A Daughter for a Southern Gambler
by Adam's Gurl
Summary: Daddy Ezra? Perhaps the other peacemakers will have to start calling a certain Mr. Standish that when a little girl by the name of Clementine Standish arrives on the noon stage. Thanks for reading!
1. Chapter 1

**I started thinking about how Ezra would be as a father, then I thought about it some more... and some more... and then I started writing! :) I hope you like it and review. If you don't like it... well, you can still review! Oh, and Clementine is meant to be pronounced** ** _Clementeen_** **in this case.**

"Drinks are on me, gentlemen." Ezra Standish grinned as he raised his glass.

"Sure you can afford it?" A disgruntled cowboy asked sarcastically. He and his buddy had just been cleared out by the southern gambler, and they were anything but happy about it.

"Now, now, gentlemen. It is not polite to ask about another person's financial situation, but since you and your compatriots appear to be so distraught, Ah think it safe to disclose to you that mah winnings are of a substantial amount to furnish you two with drinks." Ezra finished what was to him a normal sentence, while the other men sitting around the table gaped at him.

"What the hell did he just say?" The younger one asked, staring at Ezra as if he was a being from a different planet.

"Whut?" His friend swayed drunkenly, staring at him through hazy eyes.

At a table in the corner, Vin and Chris chuckled.

Ezra grinned as well and started to get up. "Well gentlemen, I believe it is is time for patrol. It was immensely enjoyable playing with you men; perhaps we will run into each other again soon. Good day."

"You can't leave now!" Jake grabbed Ezra's arm.

"Yeah, you have to give us a chance to win our money back!"

"Mistah Williams, Mistah Johnson. If you would care to read the rules of this game, Ah believe you would find that a man can leave a table whenever he chooses to." Ezra looked with contempt at the hand clamped down on his arm and shook it loose.

"Now Mister Fancy-Pants. We wouldn't want things to get ugly here, would we?" Ezra could feel the barrel of a six-gun in his back and slowly raised his hands, at the same time getting a good grip on his little Derringer that he wore up his sleeve along with a couple of aces. He didn't think he'd need it with his friends so close by, but he couldn't help not trusting even his closest friends with his life, yet. Plus both Williams and Johnson were more than a little unsteady from one too many drinks, so he figured he wouldn't have any trouble exterminating them. "Why don't you just sit back down."

"Your wish is mah command." Ezra counted till five under his breath, then whipped around, pushing the Remington away to point at the ground, and landing a solid fist in the man's face. He went down, and before he could recuperate, Ezra had a boot on his left wrist, keeping the gun on the ground. The down man's friend, Williams, drunkenly reached for his gun, but Ezra already had his Derringer pointing at him. Both men slowly looked around; Johnson from a slightly different angle. Vin smirked and shook his head slowly, his mare's leg pointed straight at Johnson's head, and Chris just gazed on, his gun resting comfortably on his knee, but ready to take action if circumstances demanded.

"You know, Ez, if I didn't know any better, I'd think you gambled just to make some excitement for us," Chris commented dryly.

"Point duly noted. Now Mistah Larabee, if you don't object, Ah imagine Ah should take these men over to the jail to cool off." Ezra took his boot off of Johnson's wrist and kicked his gun away before motioned for him to get up.

Vin got up as well. "I'll go with you, Ezra."

Ezra nodded his agreement, and he and Vin escorted the two men over to the jail. JD was sitting with his feet up on the desk, looking through some wanted posters that had arrived a couple of hours before.

"What happened?" JD jumped to his feet, eager at the thought of some excitement after weeks of just sitting around.

"Just a couple of fools who dared play with Ezra and want their money back." Vin pushed the men into the same cell and locked the door.

"Oh." JD sighed, clearly disappointed. "Well, Ez, tell me what happened, and I'll write up a report."

"Why, of course, Sheriff. Ah see you have settled into your position as sheriff of this quaint little town very well."

"Yes, sir!" The young sheriff beamed proudly, as he swaggered back to his desk.

Ezra leaned toward Vin. "Remind me to never again compliment a certain Mistah Dunne."

Vin chuckled and hung the keys on the peg. "I'll go get the horses ready. We have first patrol."

"Wait, Vin." JD stopped him before he got out the door. "I need a witness's signature. You'll do fine."

After JD got all the information he needed, Ezra and Vin headed over to the livery stable.

Ezra went straight to Chaucer's stall. "Good morning, mah gracious sir." He scratched the chestnut's white star. "Ah trust the establishments are to your liking?" Chaucer nuzzled his face, and Ezra laughed. "Ah shall take that as an affirmative."

Vin, saddling Peso, his black gelding, chuckled.

Ezra slipped Chaucer's halter on and led him out of his stall. Then he ground tied him and went off to get his tack. When he got back, he was happy to see that Chaucer hadn't moved a single hoof. He gave the horse a rub on his neck and quickly saddled and bridled him. Then he pointed to Chaucer's front right hoof. Chaucer picked it up, just like Ezra had trained him to. Ezra picked out all of the horse's hooves, then got him to bow.

"That was exceptionally fine, Chaucer." Ezra praised as he fed the eager horse a couple of jelly beans.

"If you keep feeding that horse candy, his teeth are gonna start falling out," Vin said as he swung into Peso's saddle.

"If Ah am not mistaken, you, my good man, eat candy." Ezra mounted his horse.

"But I brush my teeth."

"Are you positive that Chaucer doesn't get his teeth brushed?"

"You wouldn't..." Vin started, but Ezra's Cheshire cat grin told him all he needed to know. "Just when you're sure he can't get any crazier, he tells you he brushes his horse's teeth," Vin muttered to himself.

The two men rode the perimeter of the town, making sure that there wasn't any trouble.

"Figure we should go check on Nettie and Casey?" Vin asked when they were about to head back to town.

"Ah believe it would be helpful for a certain pair of lovebirds if we left that duty to Mistah Dunne and Mistah Sanchez on evening patrol." Ezra hinted with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"You have a point there, Ez." Vin grinned, thinking about Casey and JD.

They loped back to town and went straight to the saloon.

"Can Ah interest you in a game of chance?" Ezra asked hopefully as they dismounted and tied their horses to the hitching rail.

"Nope, I learn pretty fast. Buy you a drink, though." Vin answered.

"We have an agreement."

They entered the saloon. Josiah was sitting at a table with a bottle of whiskey in front of him. His chair was tipped back against the wall, he held a half-empty shot glass, and his face had the expression of a man deep in thought.

"Hey, Josiah." Vin greeted the former preacher, as he and Ezra seated themselves at his table.

"Oh, hi boys." Josiah looked up.

"Can I get you anything?" Inez called from the bar.

"Two beers," Vin called back. Inez nodded and brought two mugs to their table. "Thank you, Inez." She nodded, took the money he offered and returned to the bar.

"Did anything at least a little exciting occur in our absence?" Ezra took a long gulp from his beer. He took off his hat and wiped some sweat off his forehead.

"Nope. Nothing worth mentioning." Josiah sighed. "I've started working on the church again. If things go on like this, we'll be having church every Sunday again."

"Chaucer knows every trick possible for an equine to execute flawlessly, and if it weren't for mah extraordinary skill in gambling, Ah would have been cleared out a long time ago from buying candy." Ezra shook his head, mock sadly.

The three men sat in silence for a while, sipping their drinks halfheartedly.

"Stage is late again." JD came in through the bat wings and joined the other three.

"Are you expecting trouble?" Vin asked.

"Would it sound stupid if I said that I'm hoping for trouble?"

"Yep, it would," Josiah answered. "But then, we're all hoping for trouble, I guess."

Buck came down the stairs, yawning. There were a couple of rooms upstairs, that Ezra had furnished when his mother added drinking facilities to her hotel across the street. She had sold the hotel and left town again like she always did, but Buck still preferred staying at the cheaper establishment over the saloon.

"Mornin', all you early risers." He greeted the others, stumbling over to the bar.

"If mah eyes do not deceive me, it is already noon." Ezra shook his head exasperatedly.

"And I thought Ezra was a late riser," JD said, wondering how the older men could sleep so long.

"Half the day is already over, brother." Josiah admonished.

Just then Chris and Nathan came into the building. "Stage just came in," Chris said.

The seven peacemakers got up and went outside to greet the stage.

"Hey, Bart. Run into any trouble?" Chris called to the driver.

"Nope, just delayed mail." The driver started throwing down bags to the shotgun rider, who was already on the ground.

Then the passengers started getting out and stretching.

First was a young couple with a little boy, then an older man got out, followed by a man in a business suit. Then a little hand appeared on the door, and a little girl, probably about seven years old, climbed out.

She sat down on the boardwalk and rested her head on her hands.

Ezra was inviting the wealthy looking man to a game of cards and didn't see the girl. Vin, however, noticing how lost she looked, went and sat down beside her. She had long, wavy brown hair, and wore a blue dress.

"Hi." Vin offered quietly.

The girl looked up. "Hi." She answered tiredly.

"Where's your ma and pa?" He asked.

"Mah ma is in Albuquerque, and mah pa is somewhere in this town." The girl said with a southern accent.

"What does your pa look like?" Vin asked, wondering what kind of a person would send such a young kid across half the state by herself.

"Ah don't know. Ah've never seen him." She explained, finally looking at Vin.

"Well, let's go find your pa, okay?"

The girl nodded, and Vin took her hand, before leading her to the other peacemakers.

"Boys, this girl is looking for her pa," Vin said. He started to say more but stopped when he saw Ezra's face.

Ezra was staring at the girl in such shock, that everybody turned to stare at him.

"No," Ezra mumbled under his breath. "It can't be... But she looks so excruciatingly much like her. It can't possibly be. She wasn't... Was she?" He knelt in front of the girl and stared into her beautiful green eyes. "What's your name?" He asked breathlessly.

The other men exchanged confused glances at the gambler's normal language, but the girl's answer got everybody's undivided attention immediately. "Mah name is Clementine Standish." 

**Sorry to kinda leave you hanging like that at the end. I hope I'll get out at least one more chapter tomorrow!**

 **Cheers!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N I'm really sorry that it took so long to get this chapter out! I'm having trouble with my wisdom teeth, so sitting down and writing is a bit harder. I hope you like this chapter! I'm really having a lot of fun writing Mistah Standish! :)**

"Why, Ezra? I didn't know you were a daddy." Buck clapped him on his back, good-naturedly.

"Ah assure you, Mistah Wilmington, Ah had no uh-dea either." Ezra got up slowly.

"Well, I'm happy to see he's talking normal again. I was about to check him for a fever." Nathan confided to Chris.

"I see why you would think that necessary," Chris answered, looking back and forth between the two people. Except for the clear green eyes and brown hair, the girl bore little resemblance to Ezra.

Vin, seeing that the gambler for once was speechless, decided to take matters into his own hands. He knelt down so that he was the girl's height, and held out his hand. "I'm Vin. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Standish." He shook her little hand, then started introducing his friends one by one. "This is Josiah."

"Howdy." The big man smiled at her.

"JD here is the sheriff." Vin motioned to the young man, who smiled at Clementine.

"And this is Buck."

"It's nice to meet you, Pumpkin!" Buck winked at her as he tweaked her nose.

"And Nathan. He's a healer."

"You mean, like a doctor?" Clementine asked.

"Almost. I heal people, but I don't have any medical training." Nathan explained.

Clementine nodded her understanding, and Vin moved on to Chris.

"And this is Chris." Vin leaned in to tell her in a stage whisper, "He looks scary, but he's actually very nice."

Clementine grinned and swept back an imaginary duster. "Reach for your guns." She commanded in a deep meant-to-be-scary-but-turned-out-adorable voice.

"Nice to meet you too, Clementine." He smiled.

"But you have to draw your guns," Clementine argued.

"But I fear you are a lot faster than I am, so I shall surrender."

"Well, okay." Clementine agreed. "Who is he?" She asked, pointing at Ezra.

Ezra crouched in front of her again, and said, "Mah name is Ezra Standish. I am very happy to make your acquaintance."

"You're mah daddy?" Clementine asked in childish surprise. "But, you don't look like a daddy."

"Well, Ah guess Ah shall have to change that post haste." Ezra smiled at her.

"What does post haste mean?" Clementine asked.

"Posthaste means quickly," Ezra explained.

The little girl nodded slowly, then yawned and leaned against Ezra tiredly.

Ezra picked her up gently and carried the already almost asleep girl into the almost-empty saloon.

Inez looked immensely surprised when the southern gambler entered the saloon carrying a little girl.

"Ah shall explain later," Ezra spoke softly to Inez, then turned, and carefully carried Clementine up the stairs.

He laid her on a bed in one of the rooms, and softly pulled the covers over her. She was already asleep, by this time, so Ezra closed the shades and went back downstairs.

The others were either leaning against the bar or sitting around the tables when he came back downstairs. He could guess what the others were most likely thinking. Chris would be thinking about Adam and Sarah, Josiah would be thinking on the evils of men, or in this case, woman, and Buck would be hoping that Chris was OK, and wondering if Ezra might have been a ladies-man in his time. Nathan was probably thinking about how whoever the mother was, could have kept Ezra's daughter from him, Vin who had bonded with Ezra more than the rest would be a little confused about why Ezra had never mentioned anyone special in his life, and JD was probably confused by all the different emotions the other men displayed.

And Inez, who had been filled in a little by JD, was most likely wondering how a shrewd, usually cold man like Ezra could have such a lovely daughter.

"Whiskey." Was all he said to Inez. She gave him a full bottle and a glass, and he sat down at a table.

"I thought I'd be the one with a couple kids I never knew I had." Buck joked, trying to lighten the mood a bit. JD was the only one who cracked a grin, though.

"She sure is pretty," Nathan noted after a pause.

"Yes sir, she looks exactly like her mothah." Ezra filled the glass and emptied it in one swig.

"And who is her mother?" Chris asked in his quiet way.

"Anastasia Caroline Archibald." Ezra stared at his glass. "The _phenomenal_ Anastasia Caroline Archibald, actress and singer, extraordinaire." He said, almost mockingly. "Beautiful on the outside, greedy as hell on the inside." Ezra took a drink straight from the bottle. "We were gonna get married. "Didn't work out. Ah know now that all she ever wanted was mah money." He took another drink. "She left, and until this day, Ah never even knew Ah had a daughter."

"Anastasia Archibald. I've heard of her." Josiah said.

"Who hasn't?" Ezra said sarcastically.

"I haven't." JD offered.

"That was a rhetorical question, Mistah Dunne."

"Oh," JD said, although he obviously had no idea what rhetorical meant.

"Well, what are you gonna do with her?" Chris asked.

"Well, there is only one thing that can be done," Ezra said.

"And that is..."

"Mistah Larabee. Are you insinuating that Ah would do to mah daughter what mah mothah did to me?" Ezra asked, sounding just a little hurt.

Chris sighed. This guy sure was pretty easy to infuriate. "Nope. I'm not insinuating anything, Ez."

Ezra relaxed a little. "There is, of course, no way Ah can send her back to that despicable woman, and mah daughter is not going to an orphanage or the nearest relative's house." He said sarcastically.

Then Nathan spoke up, a little hesitantly. "It's just, are you sure you're capable of raising a kid by yourself, Ezra?"

Ezra almost snapped at him, before he realized that his friend did have a point. "Well, Ah shall certainly do mah best. And there's Mary."

Chris started to say something, but Ezra stopped him.

"Billy is Clementine's age, and Mary knows about raising kids, that's all," Ezra explained.

"Yeah, you're right," Chris said in a slightly apologetic voice. "This is a hard thing to be forced on a child Clementine's age; a mother that doesn't love her, and a father she never met, in a town she's never been to. I'm sure everybody'll help make her feel at home."

Everybody nodded, and Ezra smiled gratefully. "Thanks, boys."

All of a sudden a shot rang out, and the peacemakers got out of the building just in time to see a man with a handkerchief over his face, riding a black horse, gallop out of town. Looking around, Chris spotted the banker shooting at the bank robber's retreating back. "Bank robber!" Chris yelled to his friends and leapt onto his horse's back. The others horses were also tied close to the saloon, so it didn't take the seven of them long to get after the bank robber.

They followed his tracks until they came to rocky terrain. Here they couldn't make out tracks anymore, so they slowed down to rethink the situation. Vin quickly pulled out his spyglass and searched the rocky country for the man they were chasing. He was about to give up when a couple sharp neighs broke through the stillness. All Seven took off towards where the frantic calls were coming from. Once they got close they split up, so as to circle the spot.

Then they cautiously closed in. Behind a big rock, they found the unconscious man and his horse who looked like he'd broken a leg.

Nathan quickly checked over the man, who surprisingly was only bruised, before confirming that the horse didn't stand much chance.

Ezra crouched beside the black horse, and rubbed his neck, comfortingly. Then he reached into his pocket, and pulled out some of Chaucer's jelly beans, and fed the horse a couple. He got up slowly and went to help the others tie the man over Vin's saddle, leaving Buck to do what had to be done with the horse. The shot echoed grimly among the rocks, dying slowly.

After the man was securely fastened to the saddle, Vin got up behind him.

"You good, Vin?" Chris asked.

"Yep, figure we'll both stay on." Vin cracked a grin.

Chris nodded, and he and the others mounted their own horses and headed back to town.

The ride was a quiet one, with Ezra thinking hard about Clementine.

When they got back to town, JD, Vin, and Nathan took the prisoner to the jail, while Josiah and Chris went in search of the banker and a couple of witnesses, and Ezra went back to the saloon to check on his daughter.

"Is Clementine still sleeping?" Ezra asked Inez.

"Yes, she is. Poor thing is awfully tired." Inez said. "Why don't you go rest a bit? Looks like you could use some."

"Well, Ah don't know. She doesn't know you, and might be frightened if she wakes up alone."

"Oh, go on, papá Ezra." Inez laughed, before turning to hand a customer a mug of beer.

Ezra shook his head and sighed. "Ah suppose she has a point," Ezra muttered to himself as he left the saloon, and walked to the livery.

There he found Chaucer, out in a corral with Peso. He sat down, leaning his back against the fence, and thought. Last time he'd seen Ana was through the bars of a jail cell. He'd ended up there for cheating; cheating because Ana always wanted more money, and he was to head over heels to say no. Of course, when she'd found out that he was cleared out, she'd left. She hadn't even bailed him out before leaving. Thinking about that day still made Ezra angry; angry at Ana of course, but also angry at himself for letting himself be used like that. The first few weeks after she left were the worst. Before his mother helped him out of jail, he'd had way too much time to think. Thinking about it had nearly driven him crazy, and when he finally got out, all he could do was gamble, drink away the money, and repeat the process over and over again. He'd finally realized that Ana wasn't worth all that, and decided not to let her pull him down. He'd stopped drinking, and gotten a job at a ranch, doing menial labor. That's where he met and trained Chaucer and later excepted him instead of a weeks pay.

Ezra had tried his best to settle down a bit, but he finally had to get back on the road again. He quit his job and started moving from town to town. Then he met his six brothers and stayed in one place longer than he'd ever done before.

He was happy with his life; there was a good saloon where he could always find a game, he was free to move on if he ever got the urge to, and – what clinched the deal – for the first time in his life, he had friends. Not just acquaintances, or relatives, or people he got along with. These guys were _friends_!

Chaucer stepped over and nibbled on his owner's coat, worriedly. Ezra grinned and reached up to pet the beautiful chestnut's nose. "How could Ah forget; Ah also have you!"


	3. Chapter 3

I am sooo sorry for not updating in so long! Thank you to everybody who's still following this story, and of course the awesome reviewers! You guys are very greatly appreciated! This chapters pretty short, but I've already started the next one, so, yeah, we can hope for chapter 4 pretty soon.

 __ _ **M7**_ __

"Chris." Vin stepped into the barn.

"Yeah?" Chris looked up from brushing Pony's sleek coat.

"You seen Ezra?" Vin asked, stepping into the stall.

"I saw him ride out, about half an hour ago," Chris said. "Something wrong?"

"No, just wanted to talk to him," Vin said. "Thanks."

He started to leave, but Chris stopped him. "Did he ever mention her to you?"

Vin turned around slowly. "No, can't say he did."

Chris nodded and didn't have to voice his thoughts for Vin to know what was going through his head. Vin had also thought that they were close enough to talk about things like that, but Ezra was obviously not as comfortable around them as it seemed. Vin tipped his hat and stepped out of the barn to the hitching rail where Peso was tied. He swung up on the black horse's back and rode on out of town.

He knew where Ezra's favourite spot was, so it didn't take Vin long to find him sitting, as expected, with his back against a tree, lazily skipping rocks in the river.

"Hello, Vin." Ezra greeted him, without turning his head to look at him.

Vin relaxed a little at the familiar greeting, instead of the usual 'Mistah Tanner', and ground tied Peso before sitting down beside Ezra, asked. "How'd you know it was me?"

"The way Peso moves," Ezra said, still not looking at Vin.

"Nice." They sat for a minute in silence, then Vin threw a stone into the water, and watched the water ripple. "What kind of a woman would keep a child from the kid's father." Vin's comment was more of a statement than a question.

"That kind." Ezra's answer was angry, but Vin could detect a trace of hurt in his voice, which told him that even after seven years, the Southern gambler still wasn't over Anastasia.

"Well, jokes on her. Clementine seems to be a very sweet girl." Vin said, trying to make his friend feel better.

"But how could Ana do that? Ah thought she was so charming and – nice." Ezra said in a dejected voice.

Vin put his hand on Ezra's shoulder, and they sat together in silence for a minute.

"Is Clementine awake yet?" Ezra asked after a while.

"Last I heard, she was still sleeping," Vin answered. "But that was a while ago."

"Then let's get back to town. Ah have some business to attend to."

Vin nodded and got up with Ezra. They got on their horses and rode back to town in companionable silence.

 __ _ **M7**_ __

"Nobody seems to know about her." The man in the business suit who had been on the noon stage said grimly. His hair was perfectly slicked back from his clean-shaven face, and his clothes were spotless, giving him the appearance of a well-to-do city boy.

His burly, hairy-faced companion, leaning against the bar beside him, drained his glass and wiped a dirty sleeve over his mouth. "You sure this is the place, Frank?"

"She was on the stage in, so unless they got her out on the next one she has to still be in town." The man addressed as Frank called for another whiskey.

"Well, when I get my hands on her, she's gonna pay for making us chase her all the way here!"

"Keep your voice down, Jim," Frank growled through his teeth. "What's got you so on edge, anyway?"

"I just don't like this town. I hear its protected by seven gunslingers."

"This town?" Frank asked in surprise. "I thought the place was farther North."

"In your dreams," Jim mumbled.

"Is that so." Frank mused, an evil smile tugging at his mouth. "The famous Chris Larabee. That sweetens the deal a bit, don't you think?"


	4. Chapter 4

**One reviewer thought that Clementine was a runaway. Hopefully, this chapter will clear that up; it goes a little deeper than that.**

* * *

Clementine drowsily rubbed her eyes and looked around the room. She'd just woken up and was having trouble placing where she was. Then all the events of the last couple of days came flooding back. She remembered how the bad man who had a big beard and was really dirty had threatened her mommy, and how mommy had told him to give her a little time, that she'd come up with the money. Clementine was hiding in the closet, so nobody knew she was listening. The next day, her mother put her on the stage and paid the stage driver to make sure she got to Four Corners. She looked so pale and scared. Thinking about her mommy made Clementine's eyes tear up, and all the scrubbing of little fists didn't make them go away. She finally gave up, and collapsed in sobs, crying into her pillow.

Ezra, coming up the stairs, heard the sobs, and ran to her room. The sight that greeted him made his heart break. He hurried to Clementine's side, wondering what could have upset the little girl so much.

"Clementine. What ever is the mattah?"

Clementine lifted her head from the pillow, tears streaming down her face, and crawled onto Ezra's lap. He embraced the little girl and let her cry herself out against his shoulder.

"What's wrong, baby?" Ezra asked worriedly when Clementine's sobs slowly started to subside.

"Mo-mommy." Clementine got out between sobs.

"What's wrong with your mommy?" Ezra asked.

"The man – he's going to hurt her. Ah want to go back to her. She needs me." Clementine looked up at Ezra with pleading eyes.

Mind reeling, Ezra hugged her close again. "I'll take care of it. It's OK."

Ezra waited until the tears started to subside, then pulled out a silk handkerchief and used it to wipe her tears away and blow her nose. The tears had stopped, but Clementine was still anxious about getting back to her mother.

Ezra took Clementine's hand and walked down the stairs with her. Some of the hombres drinking and playing looked at the little girl in surprise, but most of them were too engrossed in their games or just too drunk to notice.

Ezra looked around, almost frantically, and was very relieved to see Mary Travis walking past on the street. He carried Clementine past all the drunken gamblers and stepped onto the street.

"Mrs. Travis?"

Mary turned to see who had called her name and smiled when she saw Ezra and Clementine. "Hello, Ezra."

"Hello, Mary." Ezra put Clementine down. "Uh, Clementine, this is Mrs. Mary Travis. Mrs. Travis is a very good friend of mine. Mary, mah daughter Clementine."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Clementine." Mary squeezed the girl's hand and smiled down at her warmly. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Mary, would you happen to have some time? Clementine hasn't seen the town yet, and who could show her around better than the local columnist?" Ezra asked hopefully.

"It would be my pleasure!" Mary assured him.

"Wonderful! Ah have some things to attend to, Clementine. Mrs. Travis is going to show you around town, alright?"

Clementine nodded, and Ezra smiled at her, relieved. "Good. I'll see you ladies later then." He tipped his hat to them and strode off towards the telegraph office. He found the telegrapher fast asleep with his head on the desk inside the window.

"Mistah Stewart?" Ezra shook his shoulder to wake him up.

The man's head came up and he looked around frantically, trying to gather his thoughts. "I, uh, yes. Mr. Standish. Uh, how can I help you?"

"Ah need to send a telegraph to Albuquerque."

"Of course." Mr. Stewart said, trying very hard to look as if he was totally awake and in control of the situation. He pushed a piece of paper through the window for Ezra to write his message on.

"A pen would be useful right now." Said Ezra, a little annoyed at the incompetent telegrapher.

"Oh, yes, of course." Stewart quickly handed the gambler a pen.

Ezra immediately started writing the telegram.

 _Albuquerque, New Mexico_

 _Sheriff Jenkins_

 _Can you give me information regarding Anastasia Archibald_ _ **Stop**_ _Her daughter Clementine Standish in Four Corners_ _ **Stop**_ _Distressed about her mother_ _ **Stop**_

 _Ezra Standish_

Ezra handed the telegram back to Stewart and watched as the man clicked away.

"Do you want to wait for an answer?" Stewart asked, collecting the fee.

"No, Ah will come around again later." Ezra tipped his hat and left.

Next, Ezra walked over to the boarding house, where he rented two rooms, for himself and Clementine. He was just finished with that, when Jordan Davies, a young boy who often ran errands for people around town, ran up to him.

"Mr. Stewart sent me to give you this telegram." Jordan handed Ezra a piece of paper.

"Thank you, Jordan," Ezra said, quickly opening the folded paper.

All strength seemed to seep out of him as he read the telegram, and he had to lean against a hitching rail to keep from falling to the ground.

 _Four Corners, New Mexico_

 _Ezra Standish_

 _Anastasia Archibald was killed last night by unidentified burglar_ _ **Stop**_ _He got the safe open, but had to get out without the money due to our arrival_ _ **Stop**_ _I wasn't aware that she had a daughter; the daughter will have to appear in court once we catch the murderer_ _ **Stop**_ _My condolences_

 _Sheriff Jenkins_

Ezra felt like somebody had punched him in the stomach as he read the telegram again as if reading it again might somehow change the meaning of the words. All his earlier feelings of hurt and anger towards Ana were quickly replaced by a helluva lot of guilt, sorrow, and, understandably, anger at the man who murdered her. He had thought that Ana sending Clementine across the state unaccompanied had been an act of pure heartlessness, and proved that she didn't even love her own little girl. But now everything began to fall into place, as he realized that Ana's actions had been meant solely to protect their daughter. Ezra's mind was a hopeless jumble of thoughts and worries as he stumbled to the saloon. He grabbed a full bottle of whiskey from the bar and made his way to a table. Sitting there, he read the telegram again and took a long swig out of the bottle.

That's how Chris found him ten minutes later; drinking from the almost empty bottle as he stared at the telegram, totally oblivious to the world around him.

"Ezra." Chris strode over to him, surprised at seeing the man in that condition. "Ezra!"

Ezra took his time looking up, but his eyes finally focused on Chris's face. "Uh, my good friend Mistah Larabee. Join this joyous celebration." Ezra invited sarcastically as he motioned to the chair beside him with his bottle.

Chris, however, stayed standing. "Ezra. What's wrong? What happened? Where's Clementine?"

"Clementine is fine," Ezra assured him, staring at his bottle.

"But what happened?" Chris asked urgently.

Ezra pushed the telegram towards his friend and took another swig from the bottle.

Chris quickly read the telegram, suddenly understanding why Ezra was in the shape he was.

Ezra laughed a hollow laugh – that didn't have amusement as a factor – at Chris's expression.

"I'm really sorry, Ezra," Chris said, putting his hand on Ezra's shoulder comfortingly.

"So am Ah, Chris, so am Ah," Ezra said quietly. He reached for the bottle again, but Chris stopped him.

"Ezra. You can't get drunk right now! Think of Clementine. We have to go after the man."

"Clementine told me something was wrong, Ah should have done something!" Ezra said, shifting the guilt onto his own shoulders.

"Ezra, listen. Anastasia was killed last night, long before Clementine even arrived here! There's no way it was your fault; it's just technically not possible!" Chris said, not wanting the man to believe it was his fault. "Look. You get cleaned up, then go talk to Clementine. She has a right to know. I'm going to contact Sheriff Jenkins, in Albuquerque, for details. Who knows where the man responsible is now. Okay?"

Ezra nodded and got up to go clean himself up as Chris left for the telegraph office. Having washed his face in the water trough outside, he gave himself a couple minutes to collect himself, before going in search of his daughter. He found her with Mary and Billy at the livery, looking at the horses. He took a deep breath and walked up to them.

"Hello, Ezra!" Mary greeted him, smiling.

"Hey, daddy," Clementine said shyly. Billy nodded to the peacemaker and continued grooming Mary's horse.

"Hello, Clementine, Mary, Billy." Ezra took another calming breath. "Mary, can Ah talk to Clementine for a minute?"

"Of course," Mary said quickly, wondering what could be wrong. "Come on Billy, let's go to the Clarion office. We'll see you later, Clementine."

When Mary and Billy had left, Ezra sat down on a pile of hay so that he was eye to eye with his daughter.

"Clementine. Ah need to tell you something. Ah telegraphed the sheriff in Albuquerque today to ask about your mother."

Clementine started breathing faster, the carefree expression on her face changing to one of intense worry. "What did he say? Is mommy OK?"

"Clementine." Ezra took a steadying breath to calm his nerves. "Clemmie, your mother... left... last night." Ezra managed to get out. His gift with words had suddenly left him, as he choked on the lump in his throat.

"You mean..." Clementine's face changed from worry to extreme grief. "No! What – how – who?" She gave up trying to find out how it had happened, and threw herself, crying bitterly, into Ezra's arms. "No-oh-oh!" Her cry came out as a wail.

Ezra just hugged her.

She said something muffled, that sounded like, "Ah knew he would come back!"

Ezra's brow furrowed, wondering again who "he" was. "Who did you know would come back?"

"The bad man who threatened Mommy." Clementine sobbed.

"Who threatened your mommy? What did he look like?" Ezra asked, gripping her shoulders, and making her look at him.

"A dirty man with a beard this big," Tears still streaming down her face, she made a big triangle shape under her chin, obviously exaggerating a little. "broke into the house, and threatened mommy. He wanted a lot of money."

"Did your mommy give in to his requests?" Ezra asked, suddenly understanding more of the situation.

"No. He was very angry, but Mommy didn't have it." Clementine explained.

"When did this happen?"

"Three days ago." Clementine sniffed.

"Ah see. Clementine, Ah have to go find my friends so that we can go catch the man who executed this horrendous crime. You can stay with Mary and Billy."

"Ah want to go with you."

"Ah know, but you can't go with us. It's dangerous; you might get hurt." Ezra explained.

"But Ah want to help catch him." Whined Clementine.

"Ah am sorry, but you can't." Ezra got up, taking a shaky breath. "Come on, Ah will bring you to Mary."

Like Ezra expected, Mary wasn't far away. She was talking with Chris, and Ezra didn't doubt for a second that she already knew what was going on.

Mary looked up as soon as she saw Ezra and Clementine. "Oh, Ezra!" She said in her usual warm, comforting way. "I'm so sorry."

"So am Ah, Mary." Ezra was finding talking without breaking down pretty hard, so he didn't embellish his speech as much as he usually would have. "Ah don't want to intrude upon your hospitality, but Ah have to ask if Clementine can stay with you for a while? Ah am going to be pretty busy, and Ah don't want to leave her at the boarding house all by herself."

"Of course, Ezra. I was just about to suggest that. If you can use my assistance in any way, please don't hesitate to ask!" Mary said, as kind and thoughtful as ever.

"Thank you, Mary," Chris said, and Ezra echoed the heartfelt thanks.

As Mary left with Billy and Clementine, Ezra and Chris looked at each other. That one look steadied Ezra, as he realized that with his six brothers helping him, sooner or later they would catch the man.


	5. Chapter 5

Fifteen minutes later, Ezra again stood at the telegraph office, waiting impatiently for an answer to his telegram asking for more information on the case. The rest of the team had split up, JD going to look through his papers at the sheriff's office to look for a wanted poster with the murderer's description, while the rest of them checked up on anybody new in town.

The machine started clicking, and Ezra craned his neck to see what Mr. Stewart was writing. Finally, he handed the piece of paper to Ezra, who snatched it and read the message quickly. It read:

 _Four Corners, New Mexico_

 _Ezra Standish_

 _A man of that description got on a stage in a small town North of here_ _ **STOP**_ _He is wanted for multiple bank robberies and two murders_ _ **STOP**_ _We have reason to believe he had at least one accomplice as he has in the past been the man doing the dirty work; he needs a brain behind an operation_ _ **STOP**_ _We do think it unlikely that the murderer is still in town but I will let you know when we have more definite information_ _ **STOP**_

 _Sheriff Jenkins_

Ezra's heartbeat quickened as he realized that the man, or men, could very well be in their town at that very moment.

"Mr. Standish, do you want to answer?" Stewart's thin voice cut through his thoughts.

"Uh, yes. Just say: We will be looking for them here." Ezra paid him and hurried off to look for his friends.

JD jumped up when Ezra entered the jail. "Ez, I was about to go looking for you. I found this wanted poster..." He handed Ezra a poster.

"Jim Rolands. Wanted, dead or alive, for multiple bank robberies and two murders across the State of New Mexico. Last spotted heading towards the small town of Four Corners. Ten thousand dollar reward?" Ezra let out a low whistle. "Everything sounds about right."

"Huh?"

Ezra pushed the self-explanatory telegram into the young sheriff's hands. "He fits the description, as well." He added, looking at the bearded, scowling criminal.

"Wow!" JD said, reading through the telegram. "Looks like we have our man. Or at least know who he is." He quickly amended. "So, you think he has an accomplice?"

"It seems very likely, Mistah Dunne." Ezra stuffed the papers in his pocket and headed for the door, JD close behind him.

They found the others in the saloon.

"Did you find out anything?" Vin asked as soon as Ezra and JD sat down at their table.

"Yes suh, we have found out quite a lot." Ezra handed the telegram to Vin and sat back as he read it out loud.

"That's a good start," Chris said. "But we still don't know where he and his accomplice/accomplices are."

"Mistah Dunne found something in his office, that might help us with that problem." Ezra handed the wanted poster to Chris.

Chris whistled. "Looks like we're dealing with a professional, here. And there's a good chance he's already in town." He put the poster on the table so that everybody could see it.

Vin picked up the poster and walked over to the bar as non-nonchalantly as possible.

"We're looking for this man. You seen him?" He showed Inez the poster.

"Why?" Inez asked curiously.

"Well, let's see." Ezra came up behind Vin. There were quite a lot of people in the establishment, so he did his best to keep his voice down. "He has robbed multiple banks and killed two, no three, people; one of them being my daughter's mother. And he and his accomplices might very well be looking for my daughter right now. That enough reasons?" He finished angrily.

"Sí," Inez said quickly, looking at the man with a worried, sympathetic look on her face. "He was here a little earlier in the day."

"Was he alone?" Josiah asked as he and the others joined Vin and Ezra at the bar.

"No. One of the men who came in on the noon stage was with him." Inez said, looking from one face to another. They were standing the way they always did when they were on a case and in possible danger; everybody's back's were covered, the doors were watched, and every person in the room was under scrutiny. Inez wouldn't admit it for anything, but the Seven of them, standing like this, same angry expressions on each of their faces – even if their anger wasn't directed at her –, where pretty intimidating.

"The man in the suit?" Ezra asked. He'd had a feeling when he was talking to the man that a person should watch his back around him, so Inez's nod didn't come as a surprise.

"Did you overhear anything that could help us?" Chris asked.

"Now that I think about it, the bearded man was saying something about chasing somebody all the way out here, and the other man growled at him to keep his voice down. Do you think – ?" Inez left her question open.

Ezra turned to look at Vin and Chris, the same question written on all their faces. Chris sprang into action first, sprinting towards the batwing doors. His brothers followed, all hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

They entered The Clarion's office. There had obviously been a scuffle; paper and other stuff was spread across the floor, and Mary's desk was tipped. There was, however, no trace of either Mary or the kids.

"Mary!" Chris called, a note of panic creeping into his voice.

The sound of a vase crashing to the floor made all eyes turn towards a door to a back room.

Ezra rushed forward, followed closely by Chris, Vin, Buck, and Nathan, leaving Josiah and JD to guard the door in case it was a trap.

"Mary!" Chris rushed to Mary's side, and quickly took her gag out and untied her hands while Buck did the same for Billy.

As soon as the gag was out Mary started talking. "Ezra, I'm so sorry. I couldn't stop them. There were two of them, they hit Billy."

"Where's Clementine?" Ezra almost yelled.

"They took her. I couldn't stop them."

"Who's they? What did they look like? Where did they go?" By now Ezra was yelling at Mary.

"Ezra." Chris put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "It's not Mary's fault, so quit yelling at her."

Under normal circumstances, Ezra might have been mad at Chris, but he realized that what his fellow peacemaker had said was true. "You are correct. Ah apologize, Mary. But did you see what they looked like?" He asked in a calmer voice.

"They were masked, but the bigger man had a beard; I saw that."

"What did they wear?" Ezra had a good idea who the fellows were, but wanted to make sure before shooting them.

By now Billy was free as well, and Mary was fussing over him while Nathan checked the big bump on his head. "One of them was dressed like a lawyer or something, and the one with the beard looked more like a ranch hand."

Ezra nodded.

"Is Billy alright, Nathan?" Chris asked the healer.

"Yes, he should be okay. Put some ice on the bump and keep him from roughhousing for a day or two." Nathan smiled reassuringly at Mary.

"Thank you, Nathan. I'll do that."

"Let's go!" Ezra headed out the door, followed by the others.

"Stay inside, Mary, and keep your gun close by." Chris cautioned before following his friends.

Chris explained the situation to Josiah and JD as all Seven hurried to the stable and saddled their horses.

In less than ten minutes they were leaving town at a lope.

Vin easily found the kidnappers' tracks. "They're not very good at covering their tracks!" Vin said, pointing the tracks out to Chris.

"Let's go." Ezra grimly pushed Chaucer back into a lope, taking the lead.

They followed the tracks through the woods to a stream.

"Think they went through?" Buck rubbed a hand across his sweaty brow.

"Ah believe they want us to think they went through," Ezra said, examining the tracks that went into the stream.

Vin trotted along the stream. "You're right, Ez." He rode back. "The tracks come back out of the stream a couple meters on."

"You got any idea where they're headed?" Nathan asked.

"I'm afraid so." Vin took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "The tracks are heading in the direction of Mizz Wells' ranch."

"Casey!" JD yelped, and kicked Milagro into a lope towards the Wells ranch.

Even under the circumstances, Buck couldn't help joking about JD's reaction. "See Ez? I always said he liked Casey."

"Ah never doubted it for an instance, Buck," Ezra smirked a little. "And Ah am sure Casey shares those sentiments."

"You probably made up your mind about that when Casey, ahem, got jealous of Maddie, right?" Vin ribbed.

"Aw hell. Gentlemen, please don't remind me of that." Ezra said with a small, rueful smile. "Furthermore, have all you men forgotten that Clementine has been kidnapped, and Mrs. Wells and Miss Wells are in danger as well?"

"No, Ez, we haven't." Vin punched his shoulder reassuringly, and they all hurried to catch up with JD.

They loped along, with JD still in the lead for a while, then Chris brought his horse closer to Ezra and Chaucer.

"Hey, Ez!" Chris called.

Ezra was a little surprised; Vin, Buck, and 'Siah were usually the only ones to shorten his name like that, although JD and Nathan did it occasionally. Obviously, Chris was feeling a little more amiable towards Ezra, maybe due to the trouble the Southerner was going through with his daughter if he was calling him "Ez".

"Yeah?" Ezra slowed Chaucer a bit to match Pony's lope.

"JDs still quite a ways in front of us. Wouldn't do for the kid to go charging in without backup. Might be bad for Nettie and Casey to boot." Chris said.

"You have a point there." Ezra could see how charging in without a plan or backup would be bad for JD and the persons inside the house. If the kidnappers had already gotten there, Nettie and Casey would very likely be held as hostages and killed or hurt if the Seven got close. "Ah shall catch up with the young Mistah Dunne. Ah am sure that he is only worried for Casey's safety, Chris." Ezra said cautiously. He didn't want the kid to get in trouble with Chris because of acting without thinking it through first.

"I know, Ezra, but what he's planning to do is dangerous; and not only to him." Chris sighed.

Ezra nodded and cued Chaucer into a gallop. Chaucer jumped forward eagerly, and they passed Vin on Peso quickly.

Vin cocked an eyebrow, asking if everything was alright without saying anything. Ezra nodded and motioned to JD. Vin nodded.

As Ezra rode on, he could feel his heart warming a bit. He felt closer with the long-haired tracker than he did with any of the others. They understood each other very well and had really good communication.

Passing Vin, Chaucer picked up his pace, even more, moving to catch up with Milagro. Ezra felt the power of Chaucer's ground-swallowing stride, and it settled his nerves a bit.

Before he knew it, Chaucer was running alongside Milagro. The horse was sweating from being ridden so hard, his breath came in laborious puffs as he ran clumsily. Ezra's anger at the kid was growing, and he decided that after the ordeal was over he'd talk to JD about treating his horse the way he knew he should.

JD grimaced at the older peacemaker and pushed his horse on.

Ezra realized that he wasn't going to slow down, and moved Chaucer in front of Milagro slowly so that the two horses wouldn't collide.

JD didn't have any choice but to slow down now, and he checked Milagro, bring the horse to first a trot, then a stop.

"Ezra, Casey and Mrs. Wells are in trouble. Those men might kill them! We have to go save them!" JD's tight face and body showed Ezra that he was barely in control of his emotions.

"Calm down a little, JD. Ah agree that we have to save them, and Clementine as well, but charging in like a couple drunk cowhands is only going to put all of us in danger. Mrs. and Ms. Wells will only be put in more danger if we fail to think our plan through carefully." Ezra tried to get the youngster to see reason.

JD was quiet for a moment, thinking about what Ezra had said. "Yeah, you're right." He said finally, looking down. He ran a hand down Milagro's neck, and Ezra saw a shamed look come over the younger man's face as he realized what he'd been doing to his horse.

By now the others had caught up, and all Seven of them continued on, at a trot this time **.**

Before long, they reached the wood line beside the house. They could see the two horses tied in front of the houses, and they all felt the same sinking feeling in the pits of their stomachs as they realized that they hadn't been fast enough.

"OK," Chris said quietly, dismounting and motioning for the others to do the same. "Vin. See that little woodshed? Do you think you can get behind it without the people in the house noticing?"

"Easy as walking behind a row of houses with no one seeing you." The ex-bounty hunter said confidently in little more than a whisper. There was a little garden that he could use as cover, and a couple young trees, not to mention that the ground dropped there and the grass was high enough to use as pretty good cover, and Vin was experienced in this.

"Good. JD, can I trust you to wait for my signal and not do anything stupid?"

"Depends on what stupid is," JD mumbled.

Chris grabbed JD's shoulder and made the younger man look at him. "You know what I mean kid; use your common sense and stick to the plan." He said with quiet force. They couldn't afford for the kid to make a stupid mistake that might cost many innocent people their lives.

JD swallowed. He knew that Chris was talking so quietly so that the kidnappers wouldn't hear them, but it sure made him squirm more than the usual volume did. "I won't do anything stupid." He mumbled.

"I can't hear you, JD," Chris said, a warning in his voice.

"I said I won't do anything stupid, Chris." He tried to shrug off Chris's hand on his shoulder. "I'm just worried about Casey and Nettie, is all." He looked down again.

"I know, JD. We'll get them out of there if everything goes as planned." Chris said in a gentler voice. He squeezed the kid's shoulder comfortingly, then let go. "You and Buck go to the other side of the house and spread out a bit; not too much though. Be sure to stay in the trees. If you don't, they'll have easy targets once the shooting begins."

JD's head had shot up when Chris said he was going with Buck.

"So you don't trust me? I don't need Buck; I can handle it." Even angry, JD had the sense to keep his voice down.

"Kid," Chris warned.

JD ducked his head and went to stand beside Buck, ready to go with him when Chris told them to.

"Nathan. Can you get behind that wagon in front of the house?" Chris continued.

"I don't know, but I can sure as hell try!" Nathan blew out a breath nervously and checked this knives and gun.

"Good." Chris thumped the healer's back. This was one of the harder position's to get to. "'Siah, can you get in the barn?"

"Easily." The big ex-preacher said, trying to put Chris a bit more confidence that everything would work out.

"Thank you. Ezra and I will spread out on this side of the house. That way the house will be surrounded. Everybody try to find a position where you can shoot inside one of the windows of the house."

"Chris, are you certain this will work?" Ezra asked a little nervously. Considering that the men had three hostages, the plan seemed to have a lot of holes in it.

"No, but can you think of any better way of doing it?" Chris asked, also tense with nervousness.

"Yes." Ezra took a breath. "An exchange. Me for the ladies and Clementine."

"No, we won't let you do that. Anyway, do you really think they'd go through with a fair exchange?" Chris asked, almost incredulously.

"Depends on what their motive is." Ezra put on his poker face, hiding the emotions under a cold mask. "Ah believe they are after the money they failed to steal when they killed Anastasia; why else would they kidnap Clementine? If that's it, then Ah would be more valuable to them then Clementine."

Chris was a little shocked at the emotionless way Ezra talked about the murdering of his fiancee and kidnapping of his daughter, before realizing that this was the way he protected himself.

"Ezra, we won't let you do that. They might kill you." Vin said.

"Not if Ah give them what they want," Ezra said. "And if something goes wrong, Ah always have this." And he whipped out his little Derringer.

"Chris?" Josiah asked.

"I suppose we can try it, but we'll be covering you." Chris conceded. "Everybody, surround the house the way we'd planned. That way, we'll still have the place covered."

"Alright, but give me time to negotiate," Ezra said. He still wasn't used to working in a team, and while it certainly gave a man a nice feeling, knowing that he had friends like that, it was still different from the way he was raised. Maude had taught him that you couldn't trust anyone and that everybody was actually plotting to backstab you if you gave them the opportunity.

"OK, be careful, Ez." Vin gripped his hand, then snuck off to his position behind the woodshed. When he was safely there, Chris gave Buck and JD the go-ahead, and they crept along the woodline to the other side of the house. Now Nathan crept to the wagon, and Josiah easily got into the barn. Chris made sure the horses were easily accessible while being tied securely enough that they wouldn't bolt at gunfire, and gave Ezra the go-ahead.

Ezra had broken off a branch from a nearby tree, and he now tied a white silk handkerchief to the tip. "Such a waste." He mumbled under his breath as green streaked the pure white. Then he unbuckled his gun belt and hung it on a tree.

He took a deep breath, then held the white flag out in front of him, and stepped out of the shelter of the trees. "Hello the house."

As soon as he showed himself, the glass in a window was broken, and a six-gun pointed at Ezra's heart.

"What do you want?"

"I am willing to negotiate a trade."

A short pause, then, "We're listening." came from the house.

"Mah name is Ezra Standish. Ah will turn myself over to you, if you hand over mah daughter and the ladies." Ezra called years of practice in self-control keeping his voice steady and face expressionless.

"Ah, so you're the kid's father. That's perfect." The owner of the voice still didn't appear. "I'm afraid that I can't take you instead of the kid. If you want to see her, or the 'ladies'" the scorn was evident in his voice, "alive, have fifty thousand dollars cash here in three hours time."

"Three hours won't give me enough time to get the money sent to town. Most of it is in Santa Fe." Ezra barely managed to keep the desperation out of his voice.

"That's your problem, not mine. I suggest you get it here in time. We have three hostages in here, you know!" The evil laugh that accompanied the threat made the captives pale in fear and struggle against their bonds, while The Seven's blood curled and all of them had to suppress the urge to kill the murdering scum where they stood.

Chris automatically looked at the trees that were hiding Buck and JD and growled as he noticed branches waving and momentarily saw JD before Buck pulled back into cover. Yep, he'd have to have a serious talk with the kid later about controlling himself. If he was going to be a good lawman, he'd have to learn to deal with people like this by using his head instead of rushing in out of pure anger. Otherwise, he literally wouldn't last long. He knew JD was only scared for his sweetheart, but acting this way would only get both of them killed. Chris shook his head. The kid was in some ways still very much a teenager; whether he liked it or not!

Luckily, the scum inside the house focusing on their little "joke" and Ezra, to notice what happened inside the house.

Casey, though, had been close to a window, so she'd had seen JD's and Buck's little scuffle. It reassured that all Seven were working to get them out, not just Ezra. Casey was strong and had given as good as she got when the first man tried to tie them up, but when the second man got her from behind, her hopes of beating the men up disappeared.

Now Ezra stepped back into the trees, dropped the flag, and untied the horses.

Chris gave the owlhoot signal, and the others were back in record time. Vin took a little longer because he knew that the men inside the house would be watching for them now.

Chris gave JD a stern glare, which the both embarrassed and angry kid tried to ignore. They got on their horses and headed back to town as fast as they could go without running their horses into the ground.

In town a couple people stopped to stare as the sweaty horses carrying the peacemakers loped through town, but what had happened in the Clarion office had been carried by word of mouth through the whole town, so most of the people understood their hurry.

The horses had to be rubbed down and rested, and the Seven didn't even have to discuss it; they all headed to the barn first thing. When they got there, Ezra started unsaddling Chaucer, but Vin stopped him.

"Let me do that." He told the Southerner.

"Are you sure?" Ezra asked. He really didn't feel like putting up much of a resistance.

"Of course. We all know we're on borrowed time here. And Ezra," Vin put a hand on his friend's arm. "We each have some cash saved up, and I'm sure all of us would be happy to pitch in with whatever we can. I know you have the means to pay the ransom, Ez, but like you said, it's in Santa Fe."

Ezra had been planning to argue, but his friend had already answered everything he wanted to say against it before Ezra even voiced his thoughts.

"Ah thank you, Vin, truly from the bottom of mah heart, but Ah believe the local bank should have sufficient means to loan me the mere sum of fifty thousand. Ah shall see you a few minutes." And Ezra tipped his hat to the gaping tracker and walked off.

"'The mere sum of fifty thousand'?" Vin muttered under his breath. "I think he's finally gone loco!" And he turned back to something he understood: horses.

 **A/N I was planning on introducing the Cartwrights in this chapter (For whoever didn't notice, I've turned this into a crossover with Bonanza), but this seemed like a good place to break, so it's going to be two chapters, instead. The next chapter should be out really soon, though. And you might have noticed that I changed the rating. That's because of the action and mild bad language.**

 **I can't answer to the guest reviewers so instead, I'll answer all of them here. SherryO: Thank you for following this story! Guest #1: Thank you! I hope it's gotten interesting and humorous by now! Lunez: Thank you! I love having people interested in my stories! :) And to your second review: Thanks. I'm afraid it's all made up by me, though. I sincerely doubt that he's ever actually done "menial labour" in his life, except to take care of Chaucer! Guest #2 (or is it still #1? So hard to tell!): Yes, I want Clementine's sweetness to kind of counter Ezra's coldness, and get him used to being warmer! Right, I forgot that! Guest #3 (or #1 or #2): Oh yeah, his world is totally upside down right now! Yes, I hope to show Clemmie that she not only finally has a father, but also six great uncles! Guest #4 (or #1, #2, or #3): I believe I already answered that in Chapter 4. lotte2910: Thank you! Yeah, I love little Clemmie too! 3** **Ladyinwaiting: Thank you! There's more coming your way! Guest #lost-track: I'm afraid for the sake of the story, Clemmie had to be kidnapped before I could finally get Frank and Jim caught. Think of it: I have the lives of all the M7 characters in my hands! *evil laugh* Just kidding; I want their lives to be as wonderful as possible... after a while! Mclance: Thank you! *happy dance* And finally, Gaben: Thank you! And you know what? Only you and I know the wonderful surprise that's coming in the next chapter! :D**

 **Adam's Gurl signing off: Goodnight everybody!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N Finally, the next chapter! I'm sorry it took so long! A couple things I wanted to mention: this chapter is when the Cartwrights join the story. Jamie is already with the Cartwrights, as is Adam's daughter, Alexandra Cartwright. I'm borrowing her from gaben (Alex is her OC); all rights belong to gaben. Also, I wasn't sure how far away Nettie's place is from town, so I might have the distance wrong. And another thing: this chapter paints a bit of a graphic picture of a shooting, so I changed the rating (it's not too gory though). Enjoy, and pretty please review to tell me what you think!**

 **Disclaimer: M7 does not belong to me (*sniff*), and neither does Bonanza. Alexandra Cartwright belongs to gaben. I'm just borrowing them.**

* * *

Ezra strode into the bank. There was a line, but he went straight to the front, apologizing to the people he was cutting off.

"Mr. Standish." The teller said, the look on his face showing how surprised he was that the usually very polite Southerner would do something like that, mixed with anger. "I'm afraid I must tell you to go back to the end of the line!"

"Mistah Thompson, Ah am afraid I will have to tell you to shut up and listen," Ezra said rather forcibly.

"Now Mr. Standish! I will have to call the law if you do not adhere to the rules."

"Ah am the law, Mistah Thompson. Now shut up and listen! This just happens to be a mattah of life and death!" Ezra said through gritted teeth.

The surprised Mr. Thompson moved his spectacles farther up his nose, while the customers behind Ezra looked at each other in surprise.

"Now, how much money do you have in the bank?" Ezra demanded.

"Mr. Standish, I am not authorized to give out information like that."

"Then who is?"

"Mr. Mueller. But-"

"Where is he?" Ezra cut him off.

"Well, he's in the room through that door over there, but-" The teller tried again.

Ezra ignored the stammering man's protests and walked towards the door the teller had pointed out. He walked right in without knocking, and hesitated only a minute at the sight of a large table, surrounded by businessmen.

"Mr. Mueller. A word." Ezra demanded. His "conversation" with Mr. Thompson had been grating on his nerves, and he didn't have time for any more hold-ups.

The banker looked at the other men, who were looking at Ezra in surprise. This was an extremely important meeting, but he knew from experience with Ezra that unless something was terribly wrong, he would never do something like this. "Please excuse me for a minute, gentlemen." He got up and motioned for Ezra to follow him into his adjoining office.

"How can I help you, Mr. Standish?"

"How much cash do you have in this bank, right here right now?" Ezra asked, relieved that the man was cooperating.

"Cash, uh," Mr. Mueller looked surprised for a minute but took it all in stride. "I would have to check the exact numbers, but I believe it's at least sixty grand."

Ezra visibly relaxed when he heard that. "Ah am very relieved to hear that, Mistah Mueller. Very. I need exactly fifty thousand in cash. Can you loan that me?" It wasn't really a question.

"Fifty thousand! Well, that would pretty much clear us out, and it could be a while before we can get more money in."

"Mistah Mueller, Ah shall pay as much interest as you want, and Ah guarantee I'll pay you back as soon as Ah can get my money shipped in from Santa Fe," Ezra said.

The banker was quiet for a minute. Having less than ten thousand on hand could be potentially very bad for both the bank and the people in the town. He looked at Ezra's tense, pleading face, and knowing how emotionless he usually was, he guessed that something really bad had happened. Different than a lot of the people in town, he trusted the gambler; he wouldn't have trusted him as far as he could throw him when he first came to town, but the man before him was a different person.

"Alright," Mueller said finally. "Follow me."

Ezra's head went up in surprise, and he followed Mr. Mueller.

A couple minutes later, a contract was written out signed, then put into a safe, and Ezra held a leather pouch holding all fifty grand.

"Ah really cannot thank you enough for cooperating, Mistah Mueller. It made everything a whole lot easier!" Ezra shook the man's hand, thankfully.

"Would you have given up if I hadn't given it to you?" Mueller asked although he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

"Short answer is no. Ah would have gone as far as to hold up the bank if circumstances demanded it." Ezra grinned kinda sheepishly.

"I thought so. I don't know what happened Ezra, but I hope you and your brothers manage to dissolve the situation quickly and the best way possible." The older man thumped the surprised Southerner on the back, then returned to his meeting, leaving Ezra standing speechless.

Sure, he felt closer with his six friends then he had ever thought possible, but to have somebody he hadn't even met before put it into words so easily and casually surprised him... a lot.

Then he chuckled and shook his head ruefully. _'Quit catching flies with your mouth, and get going!'_ He chided himself.

"Ezra." Chris walked up to him. "You get it?"

Ezra looked up. "Yes suh! It's all right here." He held up the leather pouch.

"That's good, Ezra," Chris said in a relieved voice, his eyes saying much more. "If you, uh, need some help paying off the loan, all of us would be more than happy to pitch in."

Ezra didn't like charity; never had, and he'd never accepted it, but looking into his friend's eyes, he saw only sincerity and friendship.

"Thank you, Chris. Ah should be in the clear though, once mah money from Santa Fe arrives." Ezra said.

Chris looked a little surprised and relieved at Ezra's positive response, and then they both looked up as a group of horses trotted over.

"Let's go, boys," Buck said, throwing a buckskin's reins to Chris.

All the others were already mounted, so Chris and Ezra hurried to get up on the spare horses.

Ezra stuffed the money bag into his saddlebags, and the Seven left town at an easy lope so as to not get the horses tired to fast. Ezra's little mare, an overo Paint, had a very smooth, long stride that quickly put them in the lead of the small posse.

Half-way there, they pulled up to let the horses rest a bit. Ezra pulled out his watch and studied the hands. "If we continue at this pace, we ought to be there before the three hours are up. Ah still wouldn't recommend dawdling, though."

"I agree with you, Ez. We should get going again." Vin said, and there were nods all around.

"Well, let's go," JD said impatiently. "You'd think this was a Sunday picnic, they're all be so damn relaxed." He mumbled to himself as he tightened his bay gelding's cinch.

A hand on his shoulder made him jump. "Only on the outside, boy. Only on the outside." Ezra said quietly before turning to his own horse.

JD finished tightening the cinch then got up on his horse, not daring a look at any of his teammates. He hadn't meant to say it out loud, but obviously, everybody had heard it.

They rode on, and after having minimal issues with one of the horses, who was sore on rocky terrain, they got to the ranch. They stopped their horses and dismounted at the same place they had before.

"How do you plan on doing it?" Buck asked.

"Ah believe the best way would be if I ride up to the house and throw them the money. Ah shall alert them of mah plan first." Ezra said, making sure the money bag was easily accessible.

"Ez, I think it'd be better if I did it." Vin offered.

"Ah thank you, Vin, but I have to do this," Ezra said.

"I learned a couple tricks when I was with the Comanches that would help me in this situation, whereas you might be more of a sitting duck." Vin continued.

Ezra stopped and levelled him with a glare. "Mistah Tanner. While Ah resent the comparison to a member of the feathered, flying species" He paused a minute for dramatic effect, then relaxed his glare and continued with a bit of mirth evident in his voice, so as to put his friend at ease, "You have a point."

Vin had been just a little bit worried that he'd overstepped his bounds, but now he punched Ezra's shoulder as pay-back for tricking him. "Of course I have a point. I always do."

Ezra shook his head, then he picked up the flag from where he'd dropped it a couple hours earlier, he waved it in the air, then stepped out of the shelter of the trees.

"I see you made it in time." The voice called from the house, as a gun was again pointed at Ezra.

"Ah said Ah would, so here Ah am. Ah have the money with me. Before you can get it, I want to see the hostages."

The door opened, and Nettie, Casey, and Clementine were pushed outside. Their hands were tied behind their backs, and they were gagged. Behind them, hid the bearded criminal.

"Mah friend is bringing the money up to the house. Then you send the ladies over here. If they don't arrive safely, you, mah friends, are dead meat." Ezra said nonchalantly.

The man in the house laughed hollowly; a sound that raised the hairs on the back of Ezra's neck. He turned to Vin and was surprised to see that he'd taken his saddle off his horse.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"From watching this mare I believe she once was a Comanche horse, so it makes sense we do this the way both of us are used to," Vin explained, hopping on the mare's back and slinging the saddlebags over his arm.

"OK," Ezra said reluctantly. "Good luck, mah friend."

Vin smiled. "My friend" were two words that weren't used much by Ezra, and hearing them coming out of his mouth still gave him pleasure. "Thank you." He carefully moved out of the trees, and stopped the mare, so as to give the criminals some time to realize that he was the messenger. Then he headed her toward the house at a smooth trot. The mare listened to every movement on his part, and Vin didn't doubt that she might be the reason he came out of this alive if there was trouble.

When he was close to the house, he threw the saddlebags down, and slowly headed the mare to the right. He didn't trust these men enough to turn his back to them, and this way he could keep them partly in his vision. He saw the bearded man aim his gun at Vin's back, and the thought "He sure isn't very smart" ran through his brain at the same time as he kicked his horse into a gallop towards the trees, and dropped down to one side of the mare so that his legs gripped her barrel, while the rest of him was hidden from the shooter by the horse's body.

The horse stayed in the same steady gait, and even though the reins hung uselessly around her neck, she slowed when Vin told her to in the Comanche language. He righted himself when they were safely in the trees, and trotted her back to his group, staying well in the cover of the trees.

His friends were relieved when Vin's trick worked out flawlessly, as they couldn't have shot at the man without potentially hurting one of the hostages.

"Very nicely done, Vin." Josiah praised him when he rode up to them again, and Ezra smiled at him.

Vin got a little red at the compliment and quickly dismounted. "That feller sure is scatter-brained." He observed looking back at the house.

"Yeah, I wonder what he was trying to achieve," Chris said, after patting Vin on the back.

Ezra stepped back into the clearing. "Send the prisoners." He called.

Jim looked back at his accomplice still inside the house for confirmation, then pushed Casey towards the trees.

Casey almost ran to her friends, repeatedly turning her head to look at her kidnappers with wild eyes. She finally got there, and JD quickly started sawing at the ropes around her wrists.

Frank now stepped out of the house, and Jim slowly picked up the saddlebags holding the money and tied it to the saddle on one of the horses as Nettie finally walked forward.

"There's something wrong here," Chris said.

"Ah agree," Ezra said, but there was nothing they could do about it while they still had one captive. Nettie was half-way to the trees, when Frank stuck his gun against Clementine's head and pulled her to the horses that Jim had untied.

Ezra started to pull his gun, but Chris stopped him, knowing that that would only result in Clementine getting hurt. The little girl looked on with wide frightened eyes, as she was thrown up on one of the horses, and Frank got up behind her, never moving his gun away from her head.

"Did you really think I'd give them all up, Mr. Standish?" Frank laughed mockingly. "This little 'un is going with us to Mexico, ain't that right Jim?"

"That's right." Jim laughed along with his partner as he mounted the horse.

"Adios, I will never see any of you again." Frank laughed, and with wild yells and a couple shots into the sky, he and his accomplice set their horses straight into a gallop heading south.

When Frank first pulled his gun on Clementine, Vin had motioned for Nettie to drop to the ground, so that if the opportunity to shoot at them she wouldn't be in the cross-fire. Now he rushed forward to untie her.

 _ **~M7~**_

Adam Cartwright turned in his saddle to see how his daughter, Alexandra Cartwright, was doing. She was riding her new horse, a young white mare, named Carlapico. The horse had been trained well by Alex's friend, Lajoci, and as it turned out they were a perfect match. The young Paiute certainly had a good eye for horses.

"You alright back there?" Adam asked.

"Yerp, I'm kinda tired though," Alex said.

"I warned you this would be tiring," Adam said, remembering how his daughter had begged to go along and promised that she could handle the long ride. They were on their way to Texas to negotiate a deal for an addition to their herds, along with Adam's father, Ben, and brothers Hoss, Joe, and Jamie.

Ben now dropped back a bit to ride beside Adam. "Don't give her to hard a time," He said in a quiet voice. "I remember a long time ago, when a certain young man just about her age, was begging to go on a long cattle drive." He chuckled.

"Yeah, well, this is different, Pa. Alex is a girl, after all." Adam reasoned.

"Don't let Marty hear you say anything like that!" Ben laughed at Adam's horrified expression and moved his horse in front of Sport again.

Suddenly a couple shots rang out in quick succession.

All heads turned in the direction they were coming from.

"Over that way," Joe yelled and was going to send Cochise towards the place the shots had come from, but Ben stopped him.

"It might just be somebody hunting," Ben said.

"You mean you're not going to go check it out?" Joe asked.

"I think what Pa means is that we shouldn't go running in half-cocked, looking for a fight," Adam explained.

"Adam's right," Ben said, before heading his buckskin in the direction the shooting had come from.

"Alex," Adam called his daughter over. "Stay beside me, and if Carla starts acting up, get off. She's young, and might react badly to gunfire close to her."

"OK, dad," Alex said.

"Same goes for you, Jamie." Ben cautioned the red-haired boy. "You have a rifle, but I do not want you to use it unless you really need to."

"Sure, Pa," Jamie said easily.

All of a sudden, a couple more shots rang out, accompanied by yells of triumph.

"Those were closer, dad," Alex said nervously.

"Yes, they were, Alex," Adam said, and all six of them put their horses into a lope towards the sounds.

They rode along a small deer trail, then spotted a couple horses. In the clearing behind the horses, a grey-haired woman lay on the ground, a guy with long brown hair kneeling beside her. A young guy seemed to be untying a girl, while the five other men, were running towards the horses.

"Reach," Ben said, as he and his sons drew their guns, and pointed them at the men.

"Who the hell are you?" A blond guy in a long black duster yelled though he raised his hands over his head like the others.

"Never mind that, who are you?" Adam called, making sure he and Sport were in such a position that Alex was hidden behind them.

"We're the law. I'm the sheriff." The youngster wearing a hat even funnier than Hoss's said.

"Untie the lady," Adam ordered, ignoring the kid.

"That's what I was doing." The long-haired guy said, a little exasperatedly, as he bent down to help the woman to her feet.

"Ma'am, are you alright?" Hoss asked, riding closer to them.

"Of course I'm alright." The woman said. "These men are my friends. The boys you men should be pointing those guns at just left. Put your irons away." She chided, glaring at Ben and the boys.

"Uh, yes'm." Joe quickly put his gun away.

Adam grinned at how quickly and nervously Joe had acted, but he put his gun back in his holster as well.

"Daddy." Alex moved Carla up beside Adam, staring at the man dressed in really fancy clothes.

"Alex. You're supposed to stay behind me," Adam said.

"I've seen that man before," Alex said, pointing at Ezra.

"Where?" Adam asked, surprised that Alex would recognize a random person so far from home.

Instead of answering, Alex rode Carla over to the man. Adam decided that it might be best to rest his hand on his gun as a sort of warning, even though he let Alex go up to the man.

"What do you have up your sleeve, mister?" Alex asked, pointing to his right arm.

"In here?" The man said, holding his arm up. "Well, let me see." He pretended to try and shake something out of his sleeve, then in a split second, a tiny Derringer was in his hand. "That what you meant?" He asked, moving his gun around in a sweeping motion to point at each Cartwright – except for Alex – in turn, a measuring look on his face.

"Yep, nice to see you again, Ezra P. Standish." Alex grinned triumphantly and returned to Adam's side.

"Didn't know you were famous, Ez." The long-haired man thumped Ezra on the back good-naturedly.

"Ah wasn't aware of that particular fact either, to be quite honest with you." Ezra looked a little confused, wondering how the girl could have identified him so easily when he couldn't even remember meeting her before.

 _'He talks fancy too'_ ran through Adam's mind as he watched the man put his tiny pistol back.

"Ah'm afraid that Ah don't recognize you, ma'am," Ezra politely said to Alex. "Have Ah had the pleasure of making your acquaintance before?"

Alex giggled. "Now I'm sure it's you." She turned to Adam. "He was quite a regular at the Star and Garters, in Elk, for a while."

"Oh?" Adam asked, immediately suspicious of him.

"Yeah, he's a gambler. He got into quite a few fights too." Alex turned back to Ezra, who still had a confused look on his face. "Don't you remember the kid named Alex?"

Ezra thought a minute, the name in context with the name of the gambling house bringing back memories. "Alex was Miss Katherine's son if I remember correctly," Ezra said, looking even more confused.

"Yep, only I'm not a boy." Alex grinned.

"So, you're not in league with Jim Rolands?" The dark man broke in.

"Never heard of him," Ben said honestly.

"Then let's go." The blond said, grabbing a horse's reins, and mounting up. "I'm Chris, that's Nathan, Josiah, JD – he really is sheriff, by the way – Buck, Vin, Mrs. Nettie Wells and her niece Casey, and you already met Ezra."

"Uh, I'm Ben Cartwright. These are my sons Adam, Hoss, Joe, and Jamie, and this is Adam's daughter, Alexandra."

Ezra looked a little confused when Ben said Alex was Adam's daughter.

"Ezra." Vin came up behind him. "I'll take the mare, you can take my horse." He motioned to a paint that stood by, unsaddled.

"Alright, Vin," Ezra said, mounting the bay.

"Do you need any help tracking the men?" Adam offered. He'd seen enough to be convinced that they were at least on the right side of the law.

"Well, a couple more men wouldn't be bad, but your daughter..." Chris said, not wanting to endanger another little girl.

"Uh, Pa," Joe said, dismounting to stand beside Cochise. "I could stay here with Alex and Jamie. That way if those men come back, the ladies won't be utterly helpless."

Strangled snorts were heard from Casey's friends.

Casey took it upon herself to walk over to JD, "mistakenly" stomped on Joe's toes in the process. This resulted in Joe jumping back against his horse with a yelp, and the Paint shied away, pulling Joe with him.

Now Buck and the kid sheriff couldn't control their mirth anymore and started laughing outright, while the others had the good manners to hide their amusement behind sudden coughing.

"Whoa, whoa, Cooch." Joe finally got his Paint calmed down, and now he looked from the laughing Seven to his smirking brothers and chuckling pa.

"Uh, meaning no disrespect." Little Joe hastened to add, albeit lamely, and he quickly took his hat off.

"Oh, was that me?" Casey said sarcastically apologetic. "I'm so sorry. Us "helpless" ladies can be so clumsy at times."

"Uh, yes'm." Little Joe muttered, nodding quickly, more for the sake of agreeing with her, than actually agreeing with what she'd said.

"That's settled then," Ben said. He looked at the others. Chris and Ezra had been pretty tense around them before, but now they looked a little more relaxed, and they'd even laughed a bit at Casey's stunt.

JD had seen the way Little Joe looked at Casey and figured it might be good to show him that she already had a boyfriend. So, he leaned off his horse and gave Casey a quick kiss.

Little Joe grimaced and muttered something about how this was "just his luck" to Adam.

"You OK with staying here with Uncle Joe and Uncle Jamie, Alex?" Adam asked. He wasn't quite sure of the men yet, but Nettie and Casey seemed nice and trustworthy, and anyway, Joe and Jamie would take good care of her. Still, he didn't want to force Alex into a situation where she'd be scared.

"Yeah, it's fine. Just be careful, dad, 'cause if you get hurt it will take us awful long to find you, and you might starve, and I'll also starve because I'd be looking for you, and Carla'd be hungry as well. Although she can eat grass and leaves. Can people eat grass, dad? If they can then neither of us will starve 'cause -" Alex stopped her ramble when Adam held up his hand.

"Don't worry, Alex. I'll be back soon." Adam said, trying not to grin at everybody's faces as they stared at Alex. "Don't give Mrs. Wells or Uncle Joe any trouble, y'hear?"

"I won't." Alex said, getting off of Carla, as Jamie did the same."Ah thank you for your help, gentlemen." Ezra started. "We are after two men who held mah daughter, and Mrs. and Ms. Wells, hostage. We paid their ransom, but they went back on their words and didn't release mah daughter. No doubt, they plan to use her to get their sorry hides to Mexico. Before they came here, they also murdered mah daughter's mother back in Albuquerque. So, we have to get them, but we also have to be careful as they wouldn't hesitate to hurt her. Everything clear?" Even though Ezra had put his stony mask back up, he still felt a little uncomfortable talking about such personal things to complete strangers. But, they needed the extra help.

There were nods all around.

"Very good gentlemen. Let's go."

Following the trail that the criminals had made at a slow lope, Adam kept stealing glances at Ezra. He couldn't quite figure him out. According to Alex, the man was a professional gambler, but he had a young daughter, whose mother – he hadn't said she was his wife – had been murdered. He didn't seem like the kind of guy who would trust a complete stranger, much less five, but he'd agreed to let them help catch the criminals and leave Joe and Jamie with the Mrs. Wells and Casey. Adam wondered if Alex had something to do with that; he'd definitely rethought his first opinion of Ezra when he said he had a daughter.

Most men would be a complete mess after all this, but this man's face was cold and emotionless. Nevertheless, the other six seemed to wholly trust him, and they were smart men.

This man, Vin. He had the appearance of a man who had lived through many hardships but hadn't forgotten how to be kind and gentle. With his horse, for example, he was understanding and let her slow down in difficult terrain, but he also was firm and didn't stand for any nonsense. He was obviously the leader – as he should be – and his horse trusted him. His hair was long, there was a hint of a beard, and his face was tough. But when you looked into his eyes and saw his ready grin, you realized he wasn't much more than a kid himself. Not as young as the sheriff – JD was his name – but definitely one of the younger ones in the group. He was most trusting and understanding of Ezra and the two seemed to be good buddies.

Now Vin slowed to look at the tracks. All the others slowed as well and waited while he examined the tracks made by two horses.

"They're pushing their horses hard. Too hard." Vin said, looking up at Chris. "They'll have to give them a rest soon. Did they have any supplies with them?"

"No, their saddlebags looked empty," Buck said.

"Well, we don't have any either, but we're more men and our horses are rested," Vin said, rubbing his horse's neck distractedly.

"We do have supplies," Ben spoke up. "Me and the boys have shells and some food in our saddlebags." He wasn't going to tell them what else they had in their saddlebags; he didn't want to risk somebody stealing the money they carried to purchase cows down in Texas.

"That's good," Vin said. "Both things we'll need."

Chris nodded as well and moved his horse straight into a smooth lope. All the others followed him without hesitation.

Adam, watching them as he also cued his horse forward, realized from this and other observations, that even though Chris was only second oldest in the group, he was the definitely the leader, and that his position was respected by everybody else.

After following the trail for a while, Chris held up his hand to signal a stop.

"Something the matter?" Buck asked.

"See those rocks over there?" Chris motioned to an assortment of big rocks on the slightly hilly side of the road. On the other side was a slight, but still dangerous to horses – a horse could very easily break a leg going over – cliff, and a river under it. "That's the perfect place for an ambush. They hide in those rocks, and as we ride under them, they attack from front and back. We'd be sitting ducks."

"Good point," Adam said, staring thoughtfully at the place still quite a ways ahead. "If a couple of us can get behind – also using the rocks for cover – we can surprise them. This way they won't have time to hurt Ezra's daughter when we strike, either."

"Right." Chris nodded. "Four should be able to get there without alerting them of their presence, while the rest pretend they don't know they're there and ride into the ambush."

"Sounds like a plan," Josiah said. "Who's going?"

"I'll go. Anyone else?" Chris said.

"Ah will go, of course." Ezra immediately volunteered.

"I'll go as well." Adam seconded.

"I'll go too," Vin said.

Chris nodded at them. "The rest of you ride along the road." He looked around to make sure everybody knew what they were doing. "Alright. Give us a five minutes head start, then y'all can start riding. You'll be able to get away with a slow trot, as your horses are obviously tired."

Ezra, Adam, Chris and Vin dismounted, tying their horses in a patch of trees so that they wouldn't be seen. Then they started running for the nearest rocks.

Sneaking through the rocks, Ezra watched Adam out of the corner of his eye. Meeting new people, he always analyzed them, to try and figure out how they ticked, what principles and morals they had if they had any ties, and the like. In the past, he'd use this information when conning them, but right now, he just wanted to have an idea of what kind of men were helping him get his daughter back. This Adam Cartwright had many close relatives; a father, three brothers, and his own daughter, but he was concentrating on his work, and hadn't backed out of helping for fear for his daughter. That showed that he was very close to the rest of his family; trusting the two younger brothers to take care of his daughter in a situation like this. Ezra figured this cowboy was alright.

Coming up behind the crooks hiding behind the big outcropping of rock, Ezra started in surprise. Five men stood there, watching the bigger group of lawmen, while a sixth held a tied and gagged Clementine.

This changed the plan quite a bit; he had only four men up there, and even if four bullets hit their marks dead on, there would still be two men left, and that would endanger Clementine very much. They'd have to shoot fast, and Clementine's guard would be the first target.

Peering carefully over the rock, Ezra could see Clementine looking around frantically, trying to twist her little hands out of the rope that bound her wrists. All of a sudden, her eyes met Ezra's, and she ceased struggling for a second.

Ezra put a finger to his lips, signalling her to be quiet. She gave a barely noticeable nod, and Ezra disappeared from her view again.

Ezra turned to his friends. "They have unfortunately been joined by four other men. Our only chance is to surround them and surprise them. All of you pick a mark; I'll go for Clementine's captor."

"Well," Adam whispered with a little grin. "I'm sure glad I bought these before heading south!" He motioned to his black double-holster, holding two shining six-guns.

"So am I, Mr. Cartwright," Ezra answered.

As Chris and Vin snuck off through the rocks to get to the bandits' other side, Adam stayed with Ezra a second longer, to tell him in a whisper, "It's Adam. Mr. Cartwright is my pa."

Ezra looked at Adam and nodded before the young Cartwright headed off to a better vantage point.

Adam, closest to the road, saw that Ben and the others were getting close to the spot the ambush was planned to happen and motioned to Ezra, who was to his left. When nothing happened he turned to see what was holding up Ezra. The man was watching his daughter and hadn't noticed the lawmen getting close to the spot of the ambush.

Adam picked up a small stone to throw at Ezra, trusting that the man wouldn't have a loud reaction, but was too late as one of the bandit's guns fired.

Ezra started and quickly pointed his gun at the man holding Clementine and pulled the trigger. The man let out a guttural groan and slowly sank to the ground, holding the spot on his chest where Ezra's bullet had gone in.

The others had been waiting for this man to fall, as they couldn't have the bandit's aware of their presence until the immediate threat to Clementine was gone, and now three other guns fired, their marks falling dead on the spot.

The two remaining men spun around, their guns searching for targets in the rocks. One started to point his gun toward Clementine, but a shot from Adam's second gun sent his gun flying as the man looked down at the bloody hole in his hand in shock, before the pain registered and he staggered back against a rock.

By now Ezra was reloaded and the gun in his steady hand sent a bullet straight into the remaining man's gun arm. He could easily have shot the gun out instead, but he wanted to injure him for what his gang had down to Anastasia and was planning to do to Clementine. At the same time, he didn't want him dead... yet. Better to see him hang.

"Alright, Josiah." Vin hollered to the men on the road below them.

Ezra ran to Clementine as the two criminals were roughly tied up.

"Clementine. Are you alright?" Ezra panted from excursion as he kneeled beside her.

"Yes, daddy," Clementine said as soon as the gag was out of her mouth. She was pale and shaking, and her arms and face were a little scratched up from branches, but otherwise, she was fine.

Now that she was safe, tears started running down her face, and she fell into her father's arms.

One of the bandits on the ground wasn't quite dead yet, and he slowly pulled himself up on one elbow. He raised his gun with a shaking hand, and slowly aimed at Ezra's back.

"Daddy!" Clementine shrieked a warning, and Ezra spun around, his hand going for his gun.

He wasn't fast enough, and the dying man pulled the trigger before a shot through the head from Vin killed him dead.

Fortunately, the man's hand hadn't been steady enough to aim well, and the bullet had gone into Ezra's arm instead of his heart.

Ben, having left his horses at the bottom of the slope, now reached the top of the cliff on foot.

"Ez." Chris sprinted to Ezra's side, as the injured lawman dropped to his knees in pain and momentary shock. Adam grabbed him before he fell further, and gently helped him sit down on a rock.

"Call Nathan," Vin said, hurrying to his fallen companion's side.

Ben ran to the ledge. "Nathan. We need you up here." He walked a couple steps further, and now saw what was going on down on the road, and started going down the hill as fast as he could.

Down on the road, Nathan was bent over Hoss, who was lying on the ground gripping his wounded leg.

"Hoss." Ben ran to his side. "Hoss. What happened?"

"They got off one shot at us down here," Nathan said, working quickly to stop the bleeding with a makeshift bandage. "Hoss got a bullet in his leg."

"I'll be alright, Pa," Hoss assured him, his face pale.

Ben squeezed Hoss's hand comfortingly.

Vin appeared at the top of the hill. "Nathan!" Then he saw Hoss on the ground. "What happened?"

"Hoss got hit," Buck yelled up.

"Well, we need you up here as soon as possible. Ez is hit as well." Vin hollered down.

Nathan grimaced. "Alright. Ben, apply pressure to the wound; try to stop the bleeding. If it gets worse, holler for me." He got up and started climbing up to Vin.

"JD, you go get Ezra, Chris, Vin, and Adam's horses. They'll need their horses up there, so we'll go ahead and find a route up the hill on horseback." Buck said, grabbing Nathan's mount's reins. "Are you alright down here by yourselves?" He asked Ben and Hoss.

"Yes, we'll be fine," Ben said, smiling comfortingly at his injured son.

"Good." Buck and Josiah started off to find a way up on horseback.

Up on the hill, Nathan ran to Ezra's side and quickly assessed the situation. "We'll need to temporarily bandage the wound and make a sling for the ride back to town, where I'll get the bullet out," Nathan said, starting to cut away the cloth from Ezra's arm.

"What a shame. This shirt is made of the finest silk." Ezra said, his voice strained with pain. "Really, quite a shame."

Adam and Ben stared in wonder, but Ezra's closer friends chuckled, relieved.

"You'll be alright," Nathan said as he finished bandaging the wound, and started fashioning a sling from his coat.

Now that the immediate anxiety for Ezra was past, Chris took the time to look around at the dead men.

Jim and Frank lay dead, along with two other men. One of them looked Mexican, and he thought he'd seen him before. Maybe on a poster in JD's office.

The other unidentified dead man looked younger. He stared unseeingly, up at the sky. A bewildered expression on his face, as though he'd expected this to have turned out very differently. Perhaps he'd been told it would be easy and over with quickly, by the man who hired him.

"Chris!"

Chris looked up to see Buck riding towards him, ponying Nathan's horse. Right behind him came Josiah, but JD, Hoss, and Ben were nowhere to be seen.

"What happened?" Buck jumped off his horse and ran to where Ezra was now standing, his arm in a bloodied sling.

"Well, my friend. What does it look like?" Ezra asked.

"It looks like you have to get back to town, 'my friend'!" Buck said sarcastically. No one, however, missed the relieved look in his eyes. As long as Ezra stayed his old self, he'd be fine again in no time.

"Where's JD and the others?" Chris asked.

"I sent JD to get your horses, and Ben stayed with Hoss," Buck answered looking at Clementine who cowered frightened, by the rock.

"Didn't Nathan tell you? Hoss is injured." Buck said.

"What?" Adam turned to run to his brother, but Nathan stopped him.

"He'll be alright. As long as it's treated correctly, the wound isn't fatal." Nathan told him.

Adam nodded, but still sprinted off to join his brother and father.

"Buck, find their horses," Chris said, motioning to the dead bandits.

As Buck went off to do that, Chris slowly walked over to Clementine.

"It's alright. Your father will be fine." He said, slowly sitting down beside her, so as not to scare her.

"Who are you?" She whispered.

"We're your father's friends. You met us in town, remember?" Chris explained.

"Yes," Clementine said, slowly nodding her head. "I remember." Now she relaxed a little, which made Chris wonder if she had previously thought they were also bad guys.

A couple minutes later, Buck rode into camp, leading a string of six horses.

"Found 'em." He said, dismounting.

"Good. Start tying the bodies onto the horses." Chris said, getting up to help Buck.

By the time all the dead men and the two living ones were tied to their saddles, JD had shown up with the other horses.

Down on the road, Hoss was helped onto his black horse, while up on the hill Ezra was painfully helped into the saddle, as well.

The others mounted, Clementine riding double with Chris, and the reins of horses carrying criminals were tied to law man's saddle horn.

Then they pulled out towards town, riding at an easy, comfortable, pace.

* * *

 **TBC**


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: A big thank you goes out to gaben, who graciously permitted me to use her character, Alexandra Cartwright, in my story! Thanks, gaben!  
Neither Magnificent Seven nor Bonanza belong to me. Alexandra Cartwright doesn't belong to me either; she's all gaben's. All that belongs to me is Clementine.

* * *

 **A Daughter for a Southern Gambler**

 **Chapter Seven**

The next morning Ezra lay in his bed over the saloon, wide awake and staring at the ceiling. He had only gotten a few hours of sleep in the short night before, the rest had been spent looking at his pocketwatch every ten minutes.

Thanks to Nathan's medical assistance the night before, the bullet was out of his arm and the wound was clean and bandaged. But it still hurt like the dickens.

He pulled out his watch again, and, seeing it was close to the time the others started stirring he swung his legs over onto the floor, and slowly got up. The movement shifted his arm in the sling, and he grimaced.

He made his way to the door and into the hall. Walking past, he peeked into Clementine's room. She lay asleep, her hair mussed over her face and her hands thrown up on either side of her head.

Ezra smiled gently at the cute picture she made, then quietly closed the door and went downstairs.

Inez was already behind the bar, wiping whiskey glasses.

"Buenos días, Ezra. How do you feel?" Inez asked, quickly filling a glass for the injured man.

"Like hell would be a pretty good descriptive term, Inez," Ezra said, downing the whiskey glass in one swallow.

"Morning Ezra, Inez." Chris came through the batwing doors.

"Morning Chris," Ezra said. "Have a drink?"

"No thanks. A little early in the morning, don't you think?" Chris asked, looking at Ezra, a worried frown on his face.

"Oh? Ah hadn't noticed." Ezra said, sitting down at a table.

"How's the arm?"

"It's alright," Ezra said, even though his face was pale with pain.

"We're past all that, Ez," Chris said with a sigh.

"Well, what can I say?"

"The truth sound like an idea?"

"Yes suh, that is a good suggestion. Ah suppose if Ah was going to go with the truth, Ah would have to admit that Ah am feeling less than vigorous." Ezra admitted. He figured he owed the man that much.

"Ezra."

All eyes turned to Nathan, who strode into the building.

"You shouldn't be up yet." The healer scolded. "You need to rest your arm."

"Ah am not even moving it, Doctor Jackson," Ezra said, a note of sarcasm evident at the title he had bestowed on Nathan.

"You know I'm no doctor, but I do know what's best for you. Now, as soon as I change your bandage, you need to rest." Nathan said, making as if to help him up.

"Can't you let a man have a drink?" Ezra asked, his voice getting tight with stress mixed with pain.

Chris caught Nathan's eye and shook his head ever so slightly, confident that the man would understand he was stressing the patient too much.

"'Suppose I can. I have to check on Hoss and Clementine as well, but I'd like to take care of your arm first." Nathan said, gentler this time.

"Clementine is still sleeping," Ezra said, automatically relaxing a little at the release of pressure. "She has gone through a lot, and Ah would like for her to get as much rest as she needs."

"True. I'll wait for her to wake up on her own." Nathan said, smiling a little at the Southerner's obvious caring for his daughter. "Now let's go."

"Ah will see you later, Chris," Ezra said, getting up. "Inez." He tipped his hat to her and went up the stairs with Nathan's help.

A little later that morning, JD was walking down the street towards his office, when Casey approached him.

"Good morning, Casey." He smiled.

"Morning JD," Casey said, smiling back a little shyly. "Where are you going?" She asked, falling into step beside him.

"To the office. I have to figure out who the men in Frank's bunch were." He said. "Did you just come into town?"

"Yeah. Vin rode out last night to tell us everything was alright and brought us back this morning." Casey explained.

"How is, Alex is her name, right?"

"Yes. She was worried about her pa, but she's alright now. You should have seen her and her two brothers last night. They were pacing up and down the cabin most of the night, even after Vin assured them that Hoss'd be alright. They wanted to ride back that night, but Vin told them that would be too hard on Alex and Nettie."

"On you too," JD said, nonchalantly.

"Why JD Dunne. I could ride two days straight if I had to!" Casey said punching his shoulder hard.

"Ow." JD quickly ducked her next punch, an incredulous look on his face. "I didn't mean to offend you, and anyway, that's not even true."

"It is so," Casey said. "I can ride as good as you any day of the week, twice as good on Sundays."

"Never."

"Wanna race?" She demanded.

"I told you before, I ain't racing no girl," JD said with a superior air.

Casey was about to go into full fight mode when Buck appeared.

"Whoa, whoa. What's going on here?" Buck asked, quickly stepping between the two.

"He insulted me," Casey said angrily.

"I did not."

"Did so." Said Casey, indignantly.

"Wait." Buck put up his hand to stop the argument. "I'm sure JD didn't mean anything by whatever he said, Casey. Now, I've been working on finding out the prisoners' identifications. I could really use a couple more people to look through posters with me."

Casey and JD looked at each other, still a little angry.

"Well, what do you say?" Buck asked.

"I was headed there before Casey got to picking a fight," JD said, irritation evident in his voice.

Casey took a breath to answer back, but Buck stopped her. "How 'bout you?"

"Fine." Casey finally nodded, and Buck released the breath he'd been holding.

"Good. Now shake hands, you two." Buck ordered sternly.

They both knew better than to disobey Buck, so JD grudgingly held out his hand and shook Casey's.

Buck nodded, and they headed for the office again.

In the boarding house, Hoss lay on his bed, trying to read a book.

Finally, he gave up with a sigh. He was too distracted by his injured leg and his thoughts to understand the book.

"Hey, brother."

Hoss looked up to see Adam enter the room.

"How do you feel?" Adam came to his side.

"Leg hurts," Hoss said with a shrug.

"Yeah, well, I guessed that much." Adam sat down beside him.

"Where's Pa?"

"Asleep. He stayed with you all night, so he's out." Adam chuckled gently.

"Alex, Joe and Jamie back yet?" Hoss asked.

"Yep, they're on their way here right now," Adam said.

As if on cue, there was a knock on the door, and their brothers and Alex entered.

"Uncle Hoss!" Alex ran to Hoss and hugged him. "I was so worried about you."

"I'm fine, pumpkin," Hoss said, gently hugging her back. He looked at Jamie. "Thanks for the book, little brother. It's interesting, but my mind wanders too much."

"Well, maybe you'll be able to read it once you feel better," Jamie said quickly, smiling.

"Thought we'd finally gotten rid of you, Hoss," Joe said without any ire.

"Oh, it'll take more than a bullet in the leg, little brother," Hoss assured him.

"Not necessarily, if we don't take care of that leg." Nathan entered the room and started shooing all the visitors out.

"Thanks for the reassuring words, Doc."

"Your welcome."

Meanwhile, Ezra was getting up again to see if Clementine was awake yet. He was surprised to find her, not only awake but playing with a deck of cards, fully dressed.

"Good morning Clementine," Ezra said, stepping into the room.

"Morning," Clementine said, automatically glancing at the door for a possible escape route if it were needed. The man hadn't done anything to make her distrust him, but she just wasn't a very trusting person, instinctively. More than likely her upbringing by an actress with no husband hadn't much helped in that field.

Ezra noticed, of course, and made sure to use unthreatening body language. "How are you feeling?" Ezra asked.

"Ah'm fine," Clementine answered, looking down at the scratches on her arms. They'd already been cleaned by Nathan, and though it stung a bit, she felt better now.

"Ah'm afraid Ah have been restricted to my bed for a day or two on account of mah arm, so Ah have enlisted the help of my friend Chris, to show you around town."

"Thank you, but Ah can find my own way."

Ezra was about to answer when there was knock on the open door and Chris entered.

"Hey. How're you, Clementine?" He asked.

"Fine, thank you." She answered, her face perfectly controlled to show no emotion.

Chris noticed the poker face immediately and was a little surprised at how good it was, considering the kid's age.

"Ready to go? I got some folks I'd like you to meet."

Clementine executed a perfect shuffle and slipped the deck into her boot before joining Chris. She waved to Ezra, then walked out in front of Chris, ignoring the hand he held out to her.

Ezra frowned a little as he watched the two of them disappear down the stairs of the boarding house. Something seemed wrong, but he couldn't figure it out now. He was sure Chris would take good care of her though, so he returned to his room and swallowed the laudanum Nathan had left for him.

Chris took her to meet Gloria Potter who was helping her mother in the store.

Clementine said hello politely, but Chris could tell she wasn't very interested while he and Mrs. Potter exchanged pleasantries.

"Well, Gloria, you did a good job helping me today. Why don't you girls run along and play now?" Mrs. Potter suggested.

"Yes, ma'am," Gloria said. She ran for the door, then stopped and waited while Clementine looked questioningly up at Chris.

"Go ahead." He said. "Just stay out of trouble."

Clementine nodded, a mischievous sparkle in her eye, and followed Gloria.

* * *

 **One week later**

* * *

"Ezra." Chris walked into the saloon and sat down at Ezra's table. "How're you feeling?"

"Good. My injury hurts less and less every day." Ezra said moving his arm a little to demonstrate. It was still in a sling, but Nathan had said that if it continued healing at this pace, he'd be out of it before long.

"Good." Chris took a sip from a beer. "Then you'll be able to patrol again in a couple days."

"Uh, right." Ezra sighed. "Ah had forgotten about the defective side of returning to my former good health." It was mostly an act though; he didn't mind that much and was actually looking forward to going about his business like before. "So what brings you here so early in the morning?"

"I wanted to talk to you about Clementine."

Ezra stiffened. "What has my little miscreant done now?" He asked. Clementine had gotten into a fair amount of trouble in the past week, and Ezra had been most grateful when Chris handled it for him.

"Nothing, actually, as astounding as that may seem." Chris chuckled a little. "I wanted to talk to you about her schooling. I think she's had enough time to recover and settle in, and as today is the first day of school for all the other kids, it'd be easier for her to join now, rather than in the middle of the year."

"Ah have been thinking about her need for an education as well. Ah think you are right, but Ah don't know how she will react to having to go to school. Ah don't think she's ever gone before." Ezra said.

"Yes, well, she has to go now," Chris said firmly. In his opinion, Ezra was way to easy on Clementine. He just held his breath and hoped for the best, instead of stepping up to the responsibility of raising a child.

"Yes, Ah know," Ezra said, meeting Chris's eye. He was well aware of what Chris thought, but he was having a rather hard time going from his previous life to being a single father, so suddenly.

"Alright." Chris relaxed his stance and took another sip of his beer. "Want me to tell her?"

"No, Ah should do it myself."

"Good." Chris placed his hand briefly on Ezra's shoulder, before leaving the establishment.

It was still early in the morning, so Ezra expected Clementine to still be in bed. He entered her room and smiled gently. The kid might be a holy terror when she was awake but asleep, she resembled an angel more than a little devil.

Ezra opened the curtains to let in the morning sun, then went and sat down beside Clementine. He brushed some stray locks from her face, and said her name gently, trying to wake her up.

Clementine woke with a start and lay frozen for a second before she recognized Ezra.

"Morning, darlin'," Ezra said.

"Morning." She mumbled sleepily.

"Ah wanted to talk to you about something," Ezra said.

She rubbed her eyes, and slowly climbed into Ezra's lap.

Ezra was a little surprised, but he smiled and put his arm around his daughter. "You see, today is the first day of school..."

Clementine had been drowsing a little, but all of a sudden she was wide awake.

"...and you're going with the other kids." Ezra purposely didn't ask her to go and formulated the sentence to be straight to the point.

There was silence for a while, then she said quietly, "Ah don't think Ah want to go."

"Oh? Why ever not? Ah enjoyed mah education very much." It was true, Ezra had enjoyed the bit of schooling he'd gotten as a child. Most of his "education" had been learning the arts of conning, though.

"Ah've never gone before," Clementine said quietly, playing with the cravat around Ezra's neck. "Ah don't want to." She said stalwartly.

It seemed to Ezra that the problem went a little deeper than just not wanting to go for the same reasons most kids didn't like school. Clementine hadn't been very insistent about not going before; on the contrary, she'd seemed interested in the prospect.

Then it came to him. "Don't worry, you will not be behind. A lot of the kids around here don't start going to school until they are your age."

"Are you sure?" Clementine asked.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Promise?"

"You have my solemn word." Ezra smiled.

Clementine smiled back, excited now. "Oh boy." She hopped of Ezra lap and started rummaging in her dresser.

"What are you doing?" Ezra asked curiously. Clementine's explosive nature always brought a smile to his face.

"Ah gotta get ready!"

Ezra laughed. "Alright. Meet me downstairs and Ah will bring you over to the schoolhouse to introduce you to the teacher. After breakfast, that is."

Downstairs, most of the seven were already gathered, sitting around eating. Besides serving drinks, Inez also ran a bit of a restaurant business.

"How's the kid?" Vin asked, gobbling down scrambled eggs and bacon.

"She's doing good," Ezra said.

"Chris said she's going to school. How'd she take it?"

"Surprisingly well. She was worried she'd be behind, but after Ah assured her she wouldn't be, she was quite excited about the prospect."

"That's good," Vin said. "Ya hunry?" He asked, mouth stuffed with scrambled eggs.

"Watching you eat is enough for any man to lose his appetite," Ezra said a little disgustedly.

Vin chuckled. "Hey, Inez? Some more scrambled eggs over here." He waved his empty plate in the air.

Inez cam over to their table to get Vin's plate. "You eat enough for tres cowboys!" She laughed. "Can I get you anything, Señor Standish?"

"Yes, ma'am. Pancakes with butter and syrup, scrambled eggs, and a glass of milk." Ezra said, only too aware of the stares he was receiving.

Buck got up, a mock worried look on his face. He came to Ezra's side, and slowly placed his hand on his friend's forehead. Ezra rolled his eyes but held still while Buck slowly took his hat off, held it over his heart and solemnly pronounced, "I'm afraid he ain't got long, boys."

The saloon walls echoed the roars of laughter which erupted and Ezra dutifully ignored.

"But really," Buck said after the laughter had died down. "What's with that stuff you ordered?"

"Mistah Wilmington, if you were younger and had better memory, you might recall that Ah have suddenly found mah self to be a father. Now, what kind of a father would Ah be if Ah offered mah young daughter a shot of whiskey for breakfast?" Ezra raised his glass to Buck and took a drink, the smirk evident on his face.

"Ouch," Buck said. "I'm not that old, ya know."

"Your memory is beginning to fail you." JD pointed out.

"What? No, it's not!" Buck argued, clearly affronted.

"Just keep telling yourself that old man," JD said patronizingly.

"You-" Buck lunged for JD, but the latter quickly stepped out of the way, sending Buck flying against the bar. This angered the ladies-man, but as he went for the kid again, Clementine came running down the stairs.

"What's got you so all-fired happy?" Buck asked as Clementine ran past him, leaving JD alone for the time being.

"Ah'm going to school." She said happily, a tinge of nervousness in her voice.

"So... you're happy because you're gonna be... murdering the teacher, or what?" Buck asked, really not seeing why she was so happy about it.

"Do not give her any ideas," Ezra warned, but Clementine just rolled her eyes and headed for the batwing door.

"You coming, dad?" She called to Ezra.

"Coming? Where?" Ezra asked.

"You said you'd bring me to the school," Clementine said, confused.

"Ah said Ah'd bring you to school, after breakfast." Ezra corrected, motioning to the food Inez had placed on the table in front of him.

Clementine sighed, but sat down beside Ezra without complaint and slowly started eating away at the pancakes.

Everybody's eyes now turned to the batwings as Chris, Adam, Ben, and Joe entered.

The Cartwrights had decided to stay at Four Corners until Hoss was healed enough to ride back to Nevada. He was recovering very fast, and he was already hobbling all over town, using the crutches he'd bought.

Adam sat down beside Clementine. Alex and Clementine had become quite good friends, and he found the company of the young gambler's daughter quite interesting.

"How are you today, Clementine?" Adam asked.

"Excited," Clementine said around a mouthful of scrambled eggs. She took a drink of milk to help her swallow the food. "Ah am starting school today!"

"Is that so?" Adam said. "And you're looking forward to it?"

"Hell yeah-" Clementine paused as Ezra cleared his throat. "Ah mean, 'yeah'." She corrected quickly. "It's the first time I'm going." She said enthusiastically.

Adam knew about Clementine's earlier childhood, so he understood that she'd never gone to school before. "You know," He chuckled. "Maybe some of your passion for schooling will rub off on Alex."

"Is she attending school here?" Clementine and Alex got along quite well, and she hoped that they would be attending together.

"I don't want her to fall behind any, so yes, she'll be attending for a week or so," Adam said.

"Great! Ah'm finished, daddy." Clementine jumped up.

"Alright, let's go." Ezra paid Inez for breakfast, then got up and joined Clementine.

"Mind if I walk with you?" Adam asked.

"Not at all."

They walked out of the saloon and in the direction of the schoolhouse together, making small talk. On the way there, Adam picked up Alex from the boarding house. She wasn't thrilled about having to go to school, but she knew better than to make a fuss.

When the four of them reached the schoolhouse, there were a couple kids already gathering on the playground.

Ezra knocked on the open door.

Miss Lauren Willis looked up from her papers and smiled at the four. "Good morning, Mr. Standish and..." She trailed off, not knowing the names of the people accompanying the peacemaker.

"Ah would like you to meet mah daughter, Clementine." Ezra pushed the suddenly shy Clementine forward towards the teacher. "And this is Adam Cartwright and his daughter, Alexandra."

"Nice to finally meet all of you." Ms. Willis said with a warm smile. "I've heard so much about all of you from Mary." The young school teacher and the journalist were good friends.

"Clementine and Alex will be attending school this year, and we thought we'd come over and introduce them ourselves."

"Oh? I wasn't aware you Cartwrights were staying on in Four Corners." Ms. Willis said with a pleasant hint of a drawl.

"We're not, ma'am. My brother is injured, so we have to stay for a while, but as soon as he's recovered we'll be going back to Nevada. I was worried about Alex falling behind in her schooling, so, if it's not too disruptive for you, she will be attending your school for a week, maybe two." Adam explained politely.

"It's not really necessary though, ma'am." Alex broke in. "I really don't need to attend school here; I'll wait until we get back to Virginia City." She tried to leave, but Adam grabbed her arm.

"I've explained to you, Alex, that you have to go. You're not exactly shining in your studies at home." Adam put his hands on her shoulders to keep her from trying to leave again.

"I understand." Ms. Willis said. "Let me just sign your names in the ledger," She did so quickly. "Why don't you girls go play outside until the bell rings?"

"Yes'm." Alex and Clementine went for the door to join the other kids.

Ezra and Adam exchanged some more pleasantries with the young teacher than they tipped their hats to her and took their leave.

When the teacher rang the bell, Clementine followed the other kids into the building. She and Alex introduced themselves to the rest of the class, then Ms. Willis gave the girls an assessment to see where they were at.

At recess, while the other kids played, Clementine lay on her stomach in a patch of grass, doing card tricks. Her audience grew steadily until most of the kids were watching her instead of playing. She had an intriguing way of doing things, that got everybody's attention.

Bored with tricks, Clementine finished off one called "Magic with the Aces" with a flourish and looked up at the kids.

"Can Ah interest any of you in a game of chance?" She asked.

"You mean poker?" One of the girls asked, wide-eyed. The kids weren't allowed to gamble, and though a couple of the older boys had learned the basics of the game by watching adults, they were surprised to find a girl who played.

"Texas Hold'em, to be exact." Clementine said, executing another perfect shuffle.

One of the older boys, named Jack, quickly joined Clementine. He had a reputation to uphold, after all.

"But, we don't know how to play." A younger kid said, looking around at his friends.

"Oh, Ah should have expected that," Clementine said with a sigh, looking around at the boys with a superior air. "Well, Ah shall teach you then."

"I don't think we should." Billy hedged uneasily. A couple other kids seemed to agree with him.

"Anyone else wants to play?" Clementine asked, ignoring Billy.

Slowly a couple other boys joined her. Clementine dealt them in and started explaining the game.

They played a couple rounds, gambling with pine cones, then when Clementine felt they were ready and into the game enough, she pulled out a dollar.

"I raise you one dollar." She said.

There were collective gasps from a couple younger fellers, but Jack pulled out a pocket knife.

"This pocket knife is good enough to be a raise." Jack, said.

Clementine picked it up and slowly examined it. She found it to be of good quality, so she placed it beside the dollar.

Everybody else folded until only Clementine and Jack were left in the game.

Clementine looked down at her hand coolly. It wasn't that good, but she figured with a little bit of luck and if she played it right, she could still win.

"I see your knife," She put down a dollar. "And I raise you another dollar."

"I see your dollar," He hesitantly put down a dollar. "And I raise you a spur." He had an ace and a nine in his hand, which he figured was pretty good. He was new to Texas Hold'em, and he thought that having an ace would automatically win him the game.

"Uh-uh," Clementine said emotionlessly. "The spurs go as a pair."

Jack started sweating a bit. He didn't have enough money to buy another pocket knife, especially since he'd bet his allowance, and if he lost the spurs, he wouldn't be getting another pair until he could pay for them himself. He decided that since he'd gone so far, he might as well go all in, so he took off his spurs and reluctantly put them in the pot, starting to fidget and play with his hands nervously.

Clementine smiled inwardly. This boy was as easy to read as an open book.

She saw his bet with a pocketwatch and grinned proudly at the stares from the other kids. Pocketwatches were very expensive, and none of the kids could even dream about getting one.

"Show your hand," Clementine said smoothly.

"I win," Jack said, reaching for the pot.

"Not so fast." Clementine put her hand on the ground. "Pair of Jacks beats your pair of nines."

"No, it don't," Jack said.

"Suh, who is the expert here?" Clementine asked exasperatedly, her accent thickening a little.

"She's right, Jack." Another older kid said. He had watched his father and uncle play often enough to know a little.

Jack glared at his friend. "I don't care." He said, starting to scoop up the winnings.

Clementine gave him a deathly glare. "Put that down and git." She growled.

Jack laughed. "You gonna make me?"

"Yes suh." She said, voice as cold as ice. She put her hand down to her boot and drew a knife.

Jack wasn't looking at her so he didn't see the knife. "With what?" He scoffed.

"With this," Clementine said in a low, deathly voice, moving the cold steel into his line of vision.

Now Jack saw it and involuntarily moved back his face paling. "You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, wouldn't I? I've taken people's hands for less than stealing my possessions." She hadn't of course, but she'd found that that was a very motivating response.

"They're not yours." He yelled, getting agitated.

"That's where you're wrong; they are mine. You bet your possessions, I bet mine, and I came out on top. It's as simple as that." Clementine said coldly, getting up, her knife still gripped tightly in her hand.

Alex was feeling a little torn. She was aware that Clementine had won the stuff fair and square, and was ready to help her against Jack. But at the same time, she didn't want trouble and was hoping Clemmie would put the knife away before anyone got hurt.

Jack got up slowly as well. "You wouldn't really use that on me." He said, getting a little cockier after having thought about it a bit more. What kind of a girl would kill a boy for something like this?

"Ah hope for your sake, that you do not really believe that. Things could get rough quite fast." Clementine pointed out, moving closer to Jack.

"Clementine!" Ezra came running. "Drop the knife. Now!" He ordered, quickly stepping in between Jack and his daughter.

Right behind him came Chris, Vin, Billy and Gloria.

Clementine glared at Billy and Gloria, knowing that they'd gone for help, but permitted the knife to be taken from her.

"What is going on here, if Ah may be so bold as to ask?" Ezra demanded angrily.

"Just something between Jack and I," Clementine said coolly.

Jack nodded.

"If you had to draw a knife on him, Ah want to know what happened." Ezra looked at the cards on the ground. "Jack!" He barked. "Were the two of you gambling?"

"Well, uh, not really..." Jack hedged, looking at the ground. He knew he was in big trouble for this.

"Yes, we were," Clementine spoke up boldly. "Jack was just leaving. Care to join me in a game of chance?"

Ezra growled a little but otherwise ignored her.

"Were you kids playing too?" Vin's low voice broke in. He glared steadily at each kid in turn.

"Not all of them," Billy said, not wanting his innocent friends to be blamed for what Clementine had started.

"But except for young Billy and Gloria here, all of you kids let Clementine and Jack partake in a practice that you know is wrong." Chris said it more like a statement than a question, putting the emphasis on "all".

The guilty silence that greeted his declaration was all the answer Chris needed.

By this time Ms. Willis had shown up.

"What is going on here?" She asked.

"Seems a couple of the kids were playing poker," Vin said in his usual, slow drawl.

"Poker? They know better than that!" Ms. Willis said sternly, glaring at each of the children in turn. Then she turned to the men. "Thank you, gentlemen. I'll take it from here." She hardened her voice again. "Children. Inside. Now."

All the kids slowly obeyed the order.

As Clementine passed Ezra, he grabbed her arm and leaned down to whisper something in her ear. Clementine's eyes widened and she slowly followed the rest of the class into the schoolhouse.

Ezra sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"Watcha tell her?" Vin asked.

"Ah told her we would be talking about the knife, later, after school is out," Ezra said, examining the blade he held.

"Figure she's not much looking forward to that," Chris said.

"Don't think she is." Ezra agreed. "But then, neither am I."

* * *

 **TBC**

Big thank you to all the reviewers, especially K! Thanks for all the reviews!

Thanks for reading and reviewing *hint hint*!


	8. Chapter 8

Clementine sighed, moving the mop she held in her hand in a circular motion. It had been five days since the incident at school, but she was still working off her sentence by helping Josiah at the church. This was the last day of her grounding, but she had to continue helping Josiah after school until the next weekend. It was tiresome work, and Clementine couldn't wait to be free of the cold walls of the church.

"You finished yet?" Josiah looked up from the book he was reading.

"Nearly," Clementine said, wiping some sweat from her brow.

"I must say, this place is looking a lot better since you started working here. I might have to keep you on here permanent like." Josiah chuckled at Clementine's horrified expression.

"Ah thank you for the job offer Mistah Sanchez, but Ah am not currently looking for an occupation other than mah education," Clementine said. She was taking full advantage of the chance at schooling, and Ms. Willis was always busy helping her extend her vocabulary.

"You're sounding more like your Pa every day."

"That she is." Came from the doorway.

"Ezra. Didn't see you there." Josiah got up and went over to shake Ezra's hand. "You come to release her?" He joked.

"Yes suh. I figured that after being cooped up in here and at school for so long, it's time for her to have some time off. That is if she's been behaving herself."

"Oh yes, she's been a big help here. I even offered her the chance to continue working here."

"Forced labour is what it is," Clementine said dramatically.

Ezra chuckled. "Well, I have something for you. She's waiting outside."

Clementine ran out the door and gasped at the sight. There stood an adorably fat, pinto pony, all saddled up and ready for a rider.

"She's beautiful!" Clementine breathed.

"Well, go on, get acquainted." Ezra smiled, coming up behind her. "She's yours after all." He added as an afterthought and grinned wildly at Clementine's shocked expression.

"Oh thank you!" She hugged Ezra and started to run to the pony.

"Don't run. You'll scare her." Ezra cautioned and stood back as Clementine carefully approached the pony.

Josiah smiled also, coming to stand beside Ezra. He'd never seen Ezra as happy as he had been since Clementine came to live with him. He could almost see the rays of happiness shining off his friend's face.

"Nice pony. Where'd you get her?" Josiah asked.

"Ah bought her out of town. She was as ornery and stubborn as they come, but Ah have been working with her in secret for the last while, and she's settled down quite a bit. Ah think she is finally ready for Clementine."

Josiah nodded.

"What's her name, Daddy?" Clementine called.

"She was called 'Cupcake' by her previous owners, but Ah didn't have the heart to call the poor animal by such a frightful moniker," Ezra said.

Clementine laughed. "You're right; that would be animal cruelty. Let me see." She thought a minute. "I think I'll call her Cleopatra." She finally decided.

"Perfect. She does have quite a majestic nose." Ezra laughed.

"Well, I'll leave you to it." Josiah shook his head, amusement written all over his face as he went back into the church.

"Hey, Dad?"

"Yes, Clementine?" Ezra walked down to lean against the hitching rail.

"It's Saturday."

"Yes, it is. Nice weather too, don't you think?"

"Yes, yes, nice weather. Ah'm not grounded anymore, remember?" She hinted.

"Oh, really? That had completely slipped mah mind." Ezra crossed his arms over his chest, a perfectly unconcerned expression on his face.

"Dad," Clementine whined. She knew Ezra was teasing her, but she didn't have the patience for this.

"Come on. Mount up." Ezra gave in and helped his excited daughter into the small saddle. He got up on Chaucer and grabbed the long lead line that was attached to the halter Cleopatra wore underneath her bridle. He glanced at Clementine, who was literally bouncing in the saddle, an eager expression on her face. "Let's go." He reined Chaucer away from the hitching rail and started him down the street at a smooth, fast walk. Little Cleopatra had to trot to keep up with the chestnut's fast pace, and Clementine giggled at the bouncing sensation.

They rode for quite a while, Ezra giving Clementine pointers along the way. The young girl had never sat a horse before, but she was a natural and was getting the hang of it so quickly, that Ezra even brought Chaucer into a trot, to which Cleopatra had to lope.

Ezra finally slowed Chaucer to a walk, then a full stop, and showed Clementine how to dismount. "Always the left side." He said. "You saddle, mount, dismount, and lead your horse, all from the left side."

Clementine nodded, eagerly processing everything she was learning.

"You hungry?"

"Oh yes! Tremendously so." Clementine said dramatically.

"Good, because Ah got Mrs. Marley at the boarding house to prepare some of her famous cuisine for us." Ezra smiled as he reached into his saddlebags.

"Oh? What is it?" Clementine asked eagerly, trying to peek into the bags.

"Ham sandwiches, chicken salad, lemonade," Ezra grinned. "and it seems she managed to sneak some fresh oatmeal cookies in, too."

"Yippie!" Clementine squealed, and Ezra laughed outright.

"Ah would agree with that sentiment." He said. Ezra himself had also noticed the difference in himself since Clementine came to live with him, and he wasn't so sure it was bad. "Come on. Let's eat."

After they'd finished, Clementine went down to a nearby stream to fill the lemonade canteen with fresh water while Ezra cleaned up the remains of lunch.

Ezra had just finished closing the filled saddlebags when the sound of a gun being cocked got his attention.

"Just keep your hands on the saddle if you don't want to be drilled full of bullets." A strained voice said.

Ezra obeyed, and a minute later he felt his gun being pulled from his holster.

"Alright. Turn around and step away from the horse." The man ordered, and Ezra slowly turned around, praying that Clementine hadn't yet been discovered. His hopes were dashed to the ground when he saw that the man held the frightened girl with a vice-like grip on her arm.

Now the man pushed Clementine off to the side and weakly staggered forward. He grabbed ahold of the saddle horn and tried to pull himself up on the horse. Now that his back was turned to Ezra, he could see the large patch of blood on his coat from the injury the man was trying to hide. From what Ezra could see, the wound had bled too much already and was still running.

"That injury is bad. You will need some help with that." Ezra pointed out.

The man looked back at Ezra, a look of surprise on his face before he set it into a steely mask again. "I don't need no help. I'm perfectly fine." The man grated out before his knees buckled and he fell to the ground, the gun going off at the same time due to his tightening fingers. Luckily the bullet went up, missing both the horses and Ezra, and he sprinted forward to take the gun from the unconscious man.

Clementine came running forward, a concerned expression on her face.

"Don't get to close to him, Clementine," Ezra ordered, flipping the man onto his stomach and starting to cut away the coat from around the wound. He didn't know if this man was a criminal or not, but he was going to give the man a chance at life. "Did you fill the canteen?"

"Yes, but it's down by the stream," Clementine said, her eyes glued on the injured man's face.

"Run and get it," Ezra said, waiting until the girl was gone before he carefully removed the fabric, uncovering the wound. He gritted his teeth at the sight of the large, open wound.

Clementine came running again, and Ezra got up to take the water from her hands and tell her to take Cleopatra down to the stream for a drink, all the while shielding her from the sight of the injured man. He didn't want his daughter to see any part of the gruesome injury.

Then he went to Chaucer, who stood with eyes rolled back at the scent of blood, and pulled out a small flask of whiskey. Returning to the man's side, he fashioned a bandage with a piece of his shirt and poured a minor amount of whiskey onto it to help draw out infection. He pressed the bandage onto the wound and then used his own coat to tie it in place. It wasn't tight enough, and Ezra applied pressure for a while longer.

Clementine seemed to understand that Ezra didn't want her there and she stayed down by the creek petting Cleopatra.

Ezra was still pressing down on the wound when he heard hoof beats. He quickly picked up his gun with one hand and waited.

"Ezra?" Vin, Nathan, and Little Joe came riding in, their own guns in their hands.

"What happened? We heard the shot." Vin asked, putting his gun away as they dismounted and ran to Ezra's side.

"This man's injured. We have to get him back to town as soon as possible."

"Where's Clementine?" Vin asked, looking around.

"Down by the stream with Cleopatra," Ezra answered.

"Cle-Cleopatra?" Little Joe asked.

"Her pony," Ezra said, not wasting much time on words.

"Joe, get the bandages from my saddlebags," Nathan said, quickly checking the man for a fever.

"Yes, sir." He ran to Buster and got the bandages.

"Lucky you carry those around with you," Vin commented as Nathan proceeded to redo the makeshift bandage.

"Yes. Ezra, good job with the bandage. The bleeding has almost stopped."

While Nathan worked on the man, Ezra went back down to the creek, where Clementine was sitting on the bank while Cleopatra grazed beside her.

He sat down beside her and put an arm around her shoulders. Clementine jumped.

"Oh, Daddy, it's you. How is he?"

"Nathan's working on him. He, Vin, and Little Joe were in the area."

"Good. Nathan's a good doc, isn't he?"

"Yes. You seem to be concerned about the young man." Ezra commented.

"Ah suppose Ah am. He just... Ah dunno. He just doesn't seem like a bad guy, and he really didn't hurt me. Not even when Ah kicked his shin."

"You kicked him?" Ezra asked, almost smiling.

"Yes, but Ah wish Ah hadn't."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, he didn't get angry and he didn't hurt me... he just got this pained look on his face, and he almost looked sorry. Ah dunno. He just seems young, and not bad." Clementine struggled to explain her feelings.

"Yes. Ah suppose we'll find out what kind of a man he is as soon he regains conscious." Ezra hugged Clementine.

"Say, how did you find him anyway?" Ezra asked.

"Actually, he sorta found me. Ah was filling the canteen, and didn't hear him come up behind me. Ah suppose he was there before Ah came, and was scared away. Anyway, you saw for yourself that all he wanted was a horse."

"That's true," Ezra said thoughtfully. "And he couldn't have gone far on foot, which means that his horse must still be around here. Come on, let's find him."

The two of them searched down the length of the stream and finally found the roan horse. He was standing, unsaddled, knee deep in the water, drinking.

"He has been ridden extremely hard," Ezra noted as he carefully waded into the stream and led the exhausted mount out with a rope that had been attached to Cleopatra's saddle.

"Poor horse," Clementine said, running her hands along his sweaty coat.

"No wonder he wanted to take mine; this horse couldn't have carried him another yard," Ezra noted, rubbing the horse's head.

"But he took the tack off so that the horse could drink, rest, and eventually find someone to take care of him. He didn't just tie the horse up somewhere." Clementine pointed out. In her eyes, this proved that the man wasn't so bad.

Ezra nodded. "It's interesting that he left the saddle here. It would seem that it doesn't mean much to him, which would point to the fact that this horse is also stolen."

"Guess so, but we still don't know why. Maybe someone's trying to kill him."

"You're right – we don't know." Ezra was quiet for a minute, looking the roan over. "Well, let's get back to the others. Nathan's probably finished cleaning up the man, so we can get back to town. I'll send out someone for the horse and saddle later; I don't think he's going to go far."

Nathan had finished, and they slung the still unconscious man over Joe's horse, Cochise. Joe got on behind him, and they took their time getting back to town.

"Ez, Vin, what happened?" Buck called, moving his horse beside Chaucer.

Chris stepped out of the saloon, smoking a cheroot.

"Tell you about it later. Right now we have to get to Nathan's place." Vin said, tipping his hat to Chris and continuing on with Joe and Nathan to the clinic.

Ezra and Clementine broke off from the others and rode over to the saloon where Chris still waited.

"What happened?"

"He tried to steal Chaucer but was too heavily injured to make it," Ezra explained shortly.

"You wounded him?" Chris asked.

"No, he was already wounded. Let's go inside; I'll explain it to you in more detail."

* * *

 **|l|l|l|M7|l|l|l|**

* * *

A while later, Ezra took Clementine down to Nathan's to see how the man was.

Stepping into the room, Ezra was surprised at how young he actually looked, now that he was cleaned up. The longish black hair tangled on his forehead served to make him look even younger. Clementine went straight to his side, Ezra following her.

"Why he's just a boy," Ezra said.

"Yep, I can't figure how such a young kid managed to get himself into so much trouble," Nathan said, drying his hands as he walked over to join them at the kid's side.

"How is he, Uncle Nathan?" Clementine asked in a small voice.

"Well, the bullet wound wasn't too bad and I got the bullet out. The wound is cleaned and bandaged, and his fever isn't too bad, either, so I think he'll pull through just fine."

"Good," Clementine said relieved.

All of a sudden, the kid started to stir and mumbled something slurred. Nathan was immediately at his side, putting a hand on his forehead.

"He's starting to wake up," Nathan said. He looked over at Ezra and the man nodded, understanding that the young man might wake violently.

He pulled Clementine a couple steps away from the bed and put himself between the two.

"No!" The kid screamed suddenly, writhing as though trying to get away from the invisible hands that held him. "No! Let her go!"

"Dad. What's wrong with him?" Clementine questioned, fear in her voice.

"He's hallucinating, honey," Nathan said. "It happens sometimes when a person has a bad fever, although this seems extreme for the condition he's in."

"No!" He screamed again, starting to flail his arms and legs, sweat building on his forehead.

All of a sudden Vin was there, holding the kid's arms to keep him from hurting himself any more.

"Son," Vin said. "Son. Wake up. You're alright."

"No! Let me go!" The kid fought Vin's grip with all his might, trying violently to get away.

Ezra couldn't help but wonder what he'd gone through to get such extreme hallucinations.

"It's alright," Vin said soothingly, not releasing his hold.

"Vin, you need to wake him up to snap him out of it," Nathan said.

Vin nodded grimly. "Hey! Wake up, you're fine. I'm not going to hurt you." Vin said, louder and sterner this time.

Finally, the kid's eyes flickered and opened wide, as he stared fearfully at each man in turn.

"Who – who are you?" He whispered, exhausted and in pain from each movement.

"It's alright. We're friends. You're safe." Vin said soothingly, loosening his grip on the kid's arm.

The boy took the opportunity and jumped up from the bed trying to reach Vin's mare's leg. Pain and confusion were on his face at the intense pain in his back, and he allowed Vin and Ezra to ease him back onto the bed.

"You do that again, and we might just have to move you into the jail," Vin warned sternly. He did, however, understand the instant survival/fight instinct the boy portrayed; this could well have been him, a couple years ago.

The kid stared at Vin for a minute, then looked wild-eyed around the room, still confused by the burning pain in his back. "Wh-what happened?"

"You got shot, son. Don't you remember?" Vin asked.

"I-I..." The kid trailed off as the memories came back. "Oh, damn." Was the next thing he said.

"Yes, I'd agree," Vin said, a bit of amusement in his voice. "What's your name?"

"It's, uh," He looked wildly from one man to the next then answered hesitantly, "uh, James B-Brown. Yeah, James Brown."

Vin shook his head. He wasn't Ezra, but even he could tell that this was an alias. "If you're James Brown, I'm George Washington. Pleasure to meet you, James Brown."

"Pleasures all mine, Mr. President." 'James' tried to look around the room again, and winced at the pain it caused on his back.

Vin chuckled.

"What do y'all want with me?" James demanded to know.

"When me and mah daughter found you – or rather when you found us – you were in very bad shape. We just want to help you." Ezra spoke up.

Now the kid's eyes turned to the southerner and his daughter, and recognition lit up his face. "I remember you. I didn't hurt you did I?" He asked, his head dropping a little as he kept his eyes on Clementine, a guilty look on his face.

"No... Not really." Clementine rubbed her arm where his tight grip had left a small mark. "Ah'm sorry Ah kicked you."

James made a sound that could be interpreted into a small laugh. "It didn't much hurt."

"What's your real name?" He asked Vin.

"What's yours?" Vin answered with a question.

James groaned slightly, turning away.

"What the hell did you do to my back?" He demanded to know of Nathan.

"I only patched it up. It's you who somehow managed to catch a bullet."

"Yes, well, I assure you I didn't plan to catch this one." Then he mumbled under his breath. "The other guy was supposed to get it."

Vin's keen hearing caught it instantly. "Which other guy?"

His question was met with stony silence as James avoided Vin's gaze.

There was a knock on the door, and fear was back on James' face as he started to slip the gun out of Ezra's holster while the Southerner was looking at the door. Ezra, of course, felt it immediately and grabbed the kid's wrist in a submission hold which forced him to release the weapon before he could even get a finger to the trigger.

"Let this be a lesson to you, son. Never try to con a con." Ezra grinned with a hint of malice and kept a gentler hold on the kid's wrist as Chris entered and the fear slowly turned to curiosity.

"Dropped by to see how he was doing." Chris grinned as he crossed the room. "I see he's not only awake but giving you some trouble."

"Nothing we can't handle, Chris," Vin said with a friendly grin.

"Chris, this is 'James Brown'. 'James', this is a friend of ours, Chris Larabee." Vin introduced them.

"Quit saying my name like it's fake or something," James said in an annoyed voice, trying to cover up the instinctive edginess he felt around Chris.

"Don't you think it's possible that it _is_ a fake name?" Vin asked.

"Possible of course. A lot of things are possible. Say, come to think of it, I don't know your or your friend's names."

"True. I'm Vin Tanner, that's Ezra Standish, and our doc, Nathan Jackson."

"Oh."

"Oh, what?"

"I don't trust docs." James deadpanned.

"Then you're lucky I'm not a real doctor," Nathan said. "And now, everyone has to go. Our patient here needs to rest."

"Wait. You can't leave me here... without a gun." James said, panic creeping into his voice.

"Look, James or whatever your name is." Vin put his hand on the headboard. "Just quit all the games and tell us who's after you. We want to help you, protect you, but we can't do that if we don't know who we're protecting you from."

"Aw, got to hell. I don't trust y'all, and even if I did you still couldn't help me out of this one." James turned his head away from the men, who looked at each other, helpless looks on their faces.

"At least he says what he thinks." Clementine piped up.

"Fine, but we'll still gonna take care of you, and you're not getting a gun," Vin told him sternly before he turned and left the room with the others to leave James alone with his thoughts.

Chris had been quietly observing the young man, but now he spoke up in disbelief. "He's the man you carried in here, unconscious with a bullet in his back?"

"Yep. He's a real fighter." Vin said, admiration and a certain degree of disbelief in his voice.

Chris shook his head. "Nathan. Go round up the boys. Organize a steady patrol both in and out of town, starting now. If any stranger shows up, let me know immediately."

"Thanks," Vin said as Nathan hurried off to get the men together. "It'll ease my mind some."

Chris smiled and clapped Vin on the back. "Thank me later. Right now you're up for in-town patrol."

"Shoulda guessed." Vin groaned good-naturedly, and Chris chuckled.

"Ezra, can you stay here with James," Chris said.

"Of course, if you'll be so kind as to escort Clementine over to the boarding house," Ezra said.

"Be my pleasure." Chris tipped his hat to Clementine, and she giggled and took his offered arm.

* * *

 _ **AN**_ _I have one question, and I'd like to know what you guys think. You've probably noticed that I "write" Ezra and Clementine's Southern accents (I - Ah, my - mah, mister -_ mistah _...). This can get confusing, and I daresay you guys read whatever Ezra says in his accent automatically, anyway, so I might change his and Clementine's dialogue into the normal spelling. What do you guys think; should I change it?_

 _Another thing: I don't have a Beta reader right now, and if anyone feels up to the job, let me know! :)_

 _Hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, and if anyone has suggestions, please don't hesitate to let me know!_

 ** _TBC_**


	9. Chapter 9

Nearing the evening that day, Ezra was startled out of his game of solitaire by the sound of footsteps outside. His Derringer was in his hand at the same time that the door opened... and Clementine entered.

"If it's not too much to ask, Clem, Ah'd appreciate you knocking next time."

"Course, Dad," Clementine said, looking at the gun. "How do you do that anyway?"

Ezra smiled and got up, pulling his coat off. "See this?" He motioned to the rig on his arm.

"Yep."

"All Ah have to do is flick this little trigger here," He demonstrated by putting his finger on a small trigger on the rig. "Which releases this guard, and the gun is sprung into mah hand by this spring, here."

"Ah want one of those," Clementine said with conviction.

Ezra chuckled. "Ah think it's easier for a lady to carry her Derringer in her boot, as what most ladies wear wouldn't be sufficient to cover a rig like this. And anyway, you, mah dear, are way to young to have any firearms."

"Suppose so." Clementine sighed. "Anyway, Ah came to see James. Can Ah talk to him?"

"Yes, Ah believe he is awake." Ezra opened the door to James' room and stood aside to let Clementine enter.

"Hi, James." Clementine greeted softly.

James turned his head to look at her. "Clementine."

"How are you feeling?"

"Like hell," James grumbled.

"Language, son." Ezra corrected.

James flushed a bit and looked at the far wall again.

Clementine was silent for a minute, then she turned to look at Ezra, eyebrows pointed at the door.

Ezra nodded. "Ah will leave you two to it, then." From what he'd seen of the kid, he seemed like an alright sort, and he trusted him not to hurt Clementine. Still, he was going to stick mighty close to the door.

"James."

"Yeah."

"Where's your family?"

"I ain't got no family." He said bitterly.

"What do you mean, you 'ain't got no family'? Everyone's got a family."

"Well, I ain't. At least... Not anymore."

"What happened to them?" Clementine asked softly.

"Damned SOB and his men... They..." James choked as tears formed in his eyes and started running down his cheeks. "They wanted our land, I dunno why – it's wasn't very good land... rocky, not enough water – and-and Pa wouldn't sell, and they started threatening. And th-then Pa got his gun. All he wanted to do was scare them off, but they sh-shot him, and they raided the house, and beat me and my little sisters up, a-and my Ma... and I didn't know what to do, and I couldn't do anything, and then th-they burned the house, w-with my family inside," By now James was sobbing, and Clementine took his hand soothingly, tears forming in her own eyes. "A-and I couldn't do anything, and they tied me up, and made me watch. 'Terrible' doesn't explain the half of it." James brushed an arm across his face as though trying to wipe away the memories along with the tears. "I had a-a knife in my boot and I managed to get away when they weren't watching. I swore that day that I'd hunt down the heartless, damned SOB that murdered my family, and give him the slow, painful death he deserves. And I'll be damned if I won't. He'll burn in hell yet." He spoke so bitterly with death in his voice, that Clementine involuntarily shivered.

There was a long silence with both of them trying to hold back tears, then Clementine spoke up in a hushed whisper. "Ah am sorry, James. So sorry. I shouldn't have pried."

"Yu know," James whispered. "You're the first person I've ever told about my family. Thanks."

He didn't need to say anything else; Clementine knew what he was thanking her for.

"Anytime, James." She said quietly, trusting her voice to tell him the depth of it.

"There's another thing."

"What's that?"

"I-I," He stammered. "I don't want you to call me 'James' anymore."

"What should Ah call you then?"

"By my real name,"

"Which is..."

"Roy," He finally said. "Roy Parker Buford."

Clementine smiled, happy in her heart that he trusted her enough to tell her his real name. "Okay, Roy Parker Buford. You know, you never seemed like a 'James' to me, anyway."

Roy chuckled; a sound which made Clementine happy.

"Roy..."

"Yeah, Clemmie?"

"Can Ah tell mah daddy and the other men?" She asked quietly.

"I-I dunno."

"They're all good men; trust me, they are. And they really do want to help you, just like Ah do." Clementine pleaded. "But we have to tell them. They'll protect you and help you get the man."

Roy snorted. "He's hardly a man, believe me."

"Ah believe you, but you changed the subject. Ah won't tell them if you don't want me to, but Ah really think you should."

Roy was quiet for a minute. "Aw, heck. It can't hurt I guess. But Clem, I'm telling you now, they can't stop me from getting my revenge."

"They won't even try; Ah know all of them will understand." Clementine smiled and squeezed his hand. "Do you want to tell them now?"

"I guess," He said. He felt a lot better after telling Clementine all about it, and he felt like he could trust her to help him.

"Great! I'll be right back, Roy." She smiled again and ran for the door.

"Clem." Ezra got up in surprise as Clementine ran out. "Everything alright?"

"Better." She flashed her golden smile. "Go round up the boys, will you? Ro-Ja-..." She wanted to let Roy tell them his real name, but she didn't really want to call him James either, so she settled with, "The guy in there has something to tell you guys."

"Yes, ma'am." Ezra grinned at her, catching on to her excitement. He had a feeling he knew what the kid had to tell them.

Ezra had everyone who wasn't currently on patrol in Roy's room in record time. Buck, Nathan, Joe, and Hoss (The Cartwrights had insisted on helping them out) were on patrol duty at the moment, but the others assembled in Roy's room.

"Ezra says you have something to tell us?" Chris asked in his usual smooth, deep voice.

Roy swallowed; he couldn't help it, he felt edgy around the black-clad gunfighter.

"Yeah," Roy said slowly and paused a moment. "First of all, my name isn't James Brown, which all of you already seemed to guess. It's Roy. Roy P. Buford."

Vin started. "What does the 'P.' stand for?" Vin said, a concerned expression on his face.

"Parker."

"I heard about what happened to your family, Roy. It was a terrible thing. I met your Pa once, and I was truly sorry to hear about it, son."

"Uh, hear about what?" JD asked.

Vin looked at Roy first to make sure he didn't mind him telling the others about it, and saw that the kid was relieved that he wouldn't have to recount the story himself. "Place was burned down by a greedy SOB who wanted the land for the gold that had been found on it."

Even though he was already lying down, Roy seemed to collapse into the bed even more now. "So that was it," He breathed, more to himself than anyone else. "There was gold."

"You didn't know, J-Roy?" Chris asked.

"I never guessed, but it makes sense. Our land wasn't much good for anything else."

"So, you went after the man who did this to you?"

Roy nodded.

"I'm guessing the tables turned and he's chasing you now." Vin finished, starting to piece everything together.

Roy nodded again.

"You know his name?" Asked Chris.

"Yeah, he's known as Lefty Stewart."

"What's the 'Lefty' for?"

"After he lost his right arm, he trained his left hand to the gun. He was a real fast draw before, but now there's hardly a man who can beat him. Like I said, real fast." Roy sighed.

"Faster 'n you."

"I haven't had much practice. My Pa didn't want me being a fast gun."

"Understandable," Ezra said, taking a seat.

"I guess, but look where it's got me now. I can't even avenge his death." Roy choked on his words and turned his face away from the men to hide the tears welling up in his eyes.

Chris cleared his throat and lit a cheroot. "How long has he been following you?" He questioned.

"Since he realized I was tracking him. Guess he figured before that, that he wouldn't get much trouble from me." Said Roy bitterly.

"He was proven wrong, I reckon, or he wouldn't be hunting you now," Vin said, trying to make the kid feel a little better.

"Nah. He's just scared I'll get some reinforcements."

"He has reason to be, then, cause you just got some," Chris said, causing the boy to look up at him in surprise.

"You mean, you'll help me? Even after everything I did? I did try to take your horse, Mr. Standish, and kill y'all at least once at one time or another." Roy pointed out.

"You had reason to do what you did, but I trust it's not going to happen again," Vin said sternly.

"Course not. When can we start out?" Roy asked, feeling instantly refreshed.

"Not until you're completely healed up. Having said that, I think we'll be able to move you down to the boarding house, say, tomorrow?"

"Sounds good, I'm feeling a lot better already," Roy said, looking genuinely happy for the first time since he'd come to town.

"Happy to hear it, kid. You just keep healing at the pace you are, son, and you'll be good as new before you know it." Vin clapped him gently on the back.

Clementine stayed back while Vin and the others left again.

"You weren't kidding," Roy told Clementine.

Clementine smiled. "Thanks for telling them, Roy."

"No. Thank _you_ , Clemmie." Roy grinned at Clementine. "I really feel so much better."

"Great! Like Uncle Vin said, you'll be 'good as new before you know it'." Clementine smiled. "Roy?" She asked, her previous amusement disappearing from her voice.

"Yes?"

"Why do you have to go after that awful Lefty Stewart. Why don't you just let Daddy and the others take care of him?"

"Clem..." Roy sighed. "It was dreadful watching what he did... and not being able to do anything about it. I have to avenge my family and send this beast to hell myself. Can't you understand?"

"Ah-Ah suppose Ah do. Ah just wish you didn't have to do it."

"Why?" Roy asked curiously.

"Ah-Ah don't want you to get hurt," Clemmie said quietly. "And Ah think Daddy and the others could handle it by themselves."

Roy started to say something, but Clementine stopped him. "Like Ah said, Ah do understand."

"Thanks, Clemmie." Roy smiled at her.

They stayed in comfortable silence for a moment, then Clementine said, "You hungry?"

"Very," Roy said.

"Good. Uncle Nathan says that when a sick person is hungry, it means he's getting better. You rest and I'll be right back."

"Okay, Clem." Roy matched her cute smile and watched as she left. Being with her gave him pleasure and heartache at the same time, both for the same reasons. He liked being with her because she reminded him a lot of his little sisters, and it also pained him because he missed them like hell and Clemmie reminded him of it all the time. Then that train of thought took him down a turn; he suddenly realized that Lefty Stewart was exactly the kind of man who would hurt Clemmie and others he was close to, just to wear him down.

Roy paled as he realized that and looked around the room, a panicked look on his face. He couldn't let the same thing happen to Clemmie that had happened to his sisters!

 _He had to get out of there!_

* * *

 **AN** Thanks for sticking with me! As I re-read this chapter, I realized that I now have 'Roy' and 'Clem' in my story (Sherrif Roy Coffee and Deputy Clem Foster). ;) Oh well, it wasn't planned, I assure you!

I'd like to thank all the reviewers: My friend, K: thank you so much for all your supportive reviews! Sherry O: Thank you! :) Gaben: Yes, J-Roy has a bit of an accent too, but it's not very evident, and hard to write. Thanks for reviewing.

 **TBC**


	10. Chapter 10

His brain going in panicked overdrive, he looked around the room again. There was a window, but getting down from the second floor in the condition he was in would prove to be most difficult. He knew that Ezra had been stationed outside his door before – if he was there to guard him or protect him he didn't know – but he wondered if, maybe, after learning more about him they might have left; or maybe just left to get something to eat at that exact moment.

Roy eased himself up from his bed wincing and biting his cheek at the pain it caused him, and pulled on his pants, switched the nightshirt for his shirt which hung over a chair. He slowly made his way to the door and opened it a crack to see if anyone was there. He breathed a sigh of relief when the hall proved to be empty and started down the hall.

Going down the stairs was hard, but he made it and got out a back door.

Slowly, he made his way through back alleys to the livery which, lucky for him, was very close by.

Entering the barn, he was in luck again, as the owner had just gone to his adjoining house for supper.

Roy immediately saw a tall black horse with a blaze, standing saddled. He untied the horse and pulled himself unsteadily into the saddle. Holding on to the saddle horn, he urged the horse forward.

Again, he went through back alleys to keep anyone from seeing him and made it out to the perimeter of the town.

Now he stopped the horse and looked around. He honestly had no idea where to go or what to do. He didn't know where to find Lefty, but he figured he could choose the ground for the fight, as Lefty could track a stray breeze through a stand of timber. Upon thinking about it some more, he decided that rocky terrain would probably be best.

For a minute he almost wished he'd stayed and let the Seven help him, but then he thought of Clementine and he pushed forward again.

Meanwhile in town, Clementine was heading back to Nathan's place, carrying a full supper of stew, potatoes, gravy, and salad that had been prepared by Mrs. Marley at the boarding house. She carefully made her way up the stairs to the open door of Roy's room.

"Got you some supper, Roy." She said cheerfully, entering the room without thinking twice of the open door. Her brow furrowed at the sight of the empty bed. "Roy?" She set down the tray of food and looked around the room. "Oh no!" She turned and ran out the door and down to the street.

"Uncle Chris!" She ran to the saloon where Chris was seated.

"Clemmie. What's wrong?" Chris got up immediately.

"Roy's gone! I can't find him anywhere."

Chris put his hat on as he listened to the agitated girl. "Alright. Clementine, how 'bout you go over to the livery. Adam and Lizzie are taking care of the horses. You can show Cleo to Lizzie, okay? Me and the others'll take care of it."

"Okay." Clementine ran off to the livery, the worried frown still on her face.

Chris stepped into the saloon and motioned to Buck. Buck nudged JD and motioned to the others to follow him outside.

Once they were assembled outside, Chris started giving orders. "Roy's gone. It seems like he left of free will, not by force. Buck, go get everyone in from the patrols. JD, get the horses ready. We'll meet up at the livery."

"I'll get Ezra and Nathan," Vin spoke up. Ezra was currently at the boarding house getting his wound checked by Nathan.

Chris nodded.

A couple minutes later, everyone was in front of the livery.

"Vin. Roy took Peso, so I saddled up a different horse for you." JD said, giving Vin a roan's reins. "It's the horse Roy was riding when Ez found him."

Vin nodded, letting the horse sniff his hand before he stepped to his side and gently got into the saddle. It always paid to be careful with new horses who's habits you didn't know.

"Does anyone have any ideas regarding where he could have gone?" Chris questioned.

"He's a smart kid, I think he'll pick his own ground for the fight, and pick it well. Right now, I'm thinking he'll either pick forest or rocky terrain. Either would be pretty good to hold a running fight."

"Correct." Ezra agreed.

"Alright. We'll try the forest idea first since it's closer. Look for any sign of him. We are currently looking for a toothpick in a haystack." Chris said.

They led a coarse search through the neighbouring trees, looking for anything that would tell them they were on the right trail. They finally pulled up.

"Chris. We have to return to town. If I can find whereabouts he left town, I can follow his tracks." Vin spoke up.

"You're right. Let's ride."

* * *

 **|l|l|l|M7|l|l|l|**

* * *

Roy snuck through the alternating trees and rocks, searching for Lefty with the rifle that had been on Peso's saddle in his hand.

Then he smelled smoke and hurried on to what looked like a small campsite. A pot of coffee stood beside the small fire. What drew his attention, though, was the person lying under a blanket, with his back to Roy.

Roy slowly stepped out of the cover of the rock and cocked his gun.

"Get up, Lefty." He ordered. "One wrong move and you're dead."

The person didn't move and Roy stepped closer. "Come on get up."

All of a sudden something hard hit his legs out from under him and the gun was wrenched out of the kid's hands as he fell to the ground.

"'He' is not gonna move, cause it's a tree stump." The voice of Lefty Stewart said.

"You fell right into the trap I set." Lefty chuckled evilly as he brought the gun down hard on Roy's back.

Roy gritted his teeth and tried to keep from crying out at the pain.

Lefty went back to the fire and filled a cup with coffee, trusting that the kid wouldn't move.

"I'll still kill you," Roy said, his voice breaking with pure rage and spite. "There's no way you can get away with this."

"Shut up, pup." Lefty snarled hurling the hot contents of the cup at Roy's face.

Roy grimaced, trying to hide the pain. In a foolish act of spite, he spit at Lefty.

Lefty grinned evilly and picked up a burning branch from the fire.

Roy went pale when he saw it and tried to crawl away but the pain in his gunshot wound was too much to bear.

"You gave me a whole lot of trouble, and I'm sure gonna enjoy killing you." Lefty grinned menacingly, advancing on the frightened boy.

"Reach for the sky." A deep, commanding voice came from the brush before Lefty could touch the kid with the burning ember.

Spinning around he dropped into a gunman's crouch and pulled his gun.

A bullet from Chris' gun lodged in Lefty's hand before he could shoot, and he looked down at it with a mixture of pain, shock, and anger on his face.

Vin ran to Roy and helped him to his feet. Roy, with sweat running down his pale face, pulled Vin's mare's leg out of his hands and aimed it at the murderer's head.

"You're going to die for murdering my family." Roy grated out, cocking the gun.

"Roy." Vin said in a strained voice, "You don't have to kill him; he'll hang for what he's done."

"I have to... for my family," Roy said in a desperate voice, trying to make himself pull the trigger.

"Roy," Vin used a phrase he'd heard Josiah use. "You murder him, you become him."

That got to Roy, and his hand relaxed, though he kept his gun pointed at Lefty's head.

"Go on! Don't let me hang!" Lefty cried. Like most men, he feared a public death on the gallows more than a bullet in the head. "Shoot me!"

"No, mister," Roy said finally, pointing the weapon at the sky and pulling his gunhand back to his chest in a classic gunman's pose. "You're gonna hang."

Everyone assembled – except Lefty Stewart, of course – breathed a sigh of relief, even though they would have liked to kill the sorry excuse of a man themselves. Lefty dropped to his knees, pain and fear on his face.

"Good, son." Vin smiled, laying his hand on the kid's shoulder, proud that he'd made the right decision.

Roy shakily gave the gun back to Vin, still staring at the man on the ground.

"Ah speak for all of us when Ah say we are relieved you're safe, son." Ezra laid a hand on Roy's shoulder, then went to douse the fire with coffee.

Roy processed the words carefully while Vin turned to the others.

"You go ahead, we'll catch up with you later."

They nodded and, mounting on their horses, left with Stewart.

"What were you thinking? You nearly got yourself killed." Vin ranted, his previous feelings of fear for the boy's life coming out as anger.

Roy was silent for a second. He was confused by his feelings, but he finally decided to face them head on and admit that he'd found a home in Four Corners. "It was Clementine."

"What do you mean? Did she want you to go after Lefty by herself?" Vin asked in disbelief.

"No, not really. I just-" Roy turned his back to Vin and started playing with a twig. "It's just that... Lefty's the kind of man who would have hurt her and other people I'd started to... care for... to wear me down. I was just scared for her, and I know it was a stupid thing to do."

"So you left her to protect her."

"Yes." Roy finally said.

"Did it ever occur to you that she'd be scared half out of her wits for you and hurt that you'd leave her like that?"

"Yes, but it's better than being dead."

Vin was silent for a moment. Couldn't really argue that. "Do you trust me?"

"Course," Roy said, brow furrowing.

"Nah, you couldn't have if you thought we wouldn't protect her - and you too. You should have just come to me, and we could have helped you. This way you almost died first."

"I-I didn't think of that. But I do trust you, Vin." Roy said, turning around to face him.

"Glad to hear it, son. Just think things through before you act to avoid things like this happening." Vin smiled at him. "Now let's catch up with the others and head on home. Your horse around here?"

"Yep," Roy said.

Vin slung his arm around Roy's shoulders as they went to get Peso together.

* * *

 **AN** Sorry for the shortness of the chapter, but this seemed to me like a good place for a break. Thank you again to everyone who's stayed with me so far.

 **TBC**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN** I was having some trouble with this chapter, but I hope it's relatively smooth.

* * *

"Hurry up, guys! I don't want to be late!" Clementine yelled to Roy, Alex, and Jamie as she ran ahead.

"I still don't see why I have to go to school," Roy grumbled.

"You'll like it, I promise!" Clementine said, falling back to grab Roy's hand and tug him along. "C'mon."

Roy sighed but quickened his pace some.

"I agree with Roy; why do we have to go to school on such a beautiful day." Alex joined his moody grumblings and Jamie nodded, also lagging behind with Roy.

It was true; the day was beautiful, but it was a Monday and Roy's first day. Not to mention that Clementine was in a big hurry to get there after being 'free' all weekend.

With a start, Roy realized that he was influencing Alex with his reluctance. "Oh well, it can't be all that bad... Can it? Come on, I'll beat you there!" He took off down the road towards the schoolhouse as fast he could without hurting his back, and the others ran after him.

Sitting at the door of the sheriff's office, Vin grinned to himself. He got up and stretched, then entered the office, nearly running into Nathan.

"How is he?" Vin asked, regarding the prisoner.

"His hand'll be just fine. Chris shot straight and true."

"Don't really see the point of patching him up when he's gonna hang anyway."

"Well, I guess every man deserves that much, even though I'd tend to agree with you," Nathan said, looking down.

"Yeah." Vin grasped Nathan's shoulder momentarily, then stepped out of the way as Nathan left.

Walking across the room to the cell which held Stewart, Vin was received with a cold, death stare.

"What do you want?" Stewart growled.

"Just thought I'd let you know: the judge is arriving today. Your trial is scheduled for tomorrow, 10:00 AM."

"I'll kill you yet. I'll kill all of you, especially that runt. I should have finished him off when I had the chance."

"You're not gonna touch any of us, 'specially the boy. Now you better get your affairs in order cause you're gonna die." Vin informed him in his low voice. Turning, he strode out of the building. Peso stood tied outside, and Vin jumped onto his back in one smooth motion.

"Everything all right?"

Vin looked up to see Chris leaning against the post.

"Just going for a ride. I might meet the stage." Vin said before he pulled Peso around and set him into a smooth gallop out of town.

He rode along the stagecoach's route until he came upon it.

The driver pulled up the horses with a loud "Whoa."

"Hey, Bart."

"Vin. Any trouble?" Bart asked, bracing himself against the pull of the prancing horses.

"No, just thought I'd ride out to meet you," Vin said.

Bart nodded. "Hiya!" The driver yelled to the horses, slapping the reins against their backs.

They rode back to town together, Peso and the pulling horses fighting for the lead.

Pulling up in front of the station in town, Vin dismounted to help the passengers out. Judge Travis got out and wiped some dust from his hat.

Vin was expecting a remark on the bumpy ride, but instead, he leaned a little closer to Vin.

"I think you'd better run and get young Standish." He muttered to Vin.

"Oh, what for?"

"He's got company," Travis said right before a gloved hand appeared from the stage and the judge took it to help the lady out.

Vin tried his best not to groan as Mrs. Maude Standish gracefully got down from the stage.

"Mrs. Standish. I had no idea you were coming." Vin hurried to greet the woman.

"Yes, Ah was hoping to surprise mah son. Where is he?"

"Oh, he will be surprised to see you, I'm sure," Vin said. _'You have no idea how_ _much_ _.'_ He thought to himself. "I'll go get him."

Maude nodded, disregarding him quickly. She had never had a very high esteem of the long-haired tracker.

As Vin hurried off to find Ezra, he heard Mary greeting Maude. The two had been pretty close since they met, which was something Vin previously had trouble understanding. When he got to know the woman some more, he still couldn't say he liked her, but he could see where Mary saw some good qualities.

"Where's Ezra?" Vin asked bursting into the saloon.

"Over by the livery, I think. Everything all right?" Chris answered, pushing off from the bar.

"Maude's in town."

"Good Lord." Said Josiah.

"Yep." Vin pulled his hat down and headed out the door towards the livery.

Entering the livery, Vin smiled when his ears caught the sound of Ezra humming.

"Ez, you got a visitor. Came in on the stage."

"Ah wasn't expecting company," Ezra said, coming out of Chaucer's stall, brush in hand.

"Yeah, well, it was supposed to be a surprise," Vin said, trying to figure out how to break the news to Ezra.

"Well, who is it?"

"Your mother." Vin finally gave it to him straight.

"Good Lord." Ezra breathed, leaning against the stall door.

"Exactly what 'Siah said."

"May Ah ask where she is currently located?"

"She's still down at the station. I told her I'd get you."

Ezra quickly checked his pocket watch. "Good. Clemmie is still in school. Good Lord." He said again. "How am Ah going to introduce them?"

"How about, 'Clem, this is your grandmother. Mother, my daughter.'?" Vin suggested.

"That wouldn't go over very well," Ezra stated the obvious.

"True. You might want to have Nathan on hand when you do tell her. It's always good to have a doc around when someone's gonna have a heart attack."

"Very funny, mah friend," Ezra said with a small groan.

Vin laughed. "C'mon, you'll live." He put an arm around Ezra's shoulder and they walked out together.

Arriving at the Wells Fargo station, neither of the boys were surprised to see the other five, Mary, the Judge, Billy, and a couple of the Cartwrights gathered.

"Ezra! Darlin'!" Maude Standish rushed forward to kiss Ezra's cheek.

"Mothah. Ah had no idea you would be gracing us with your presence." Ezra said.

"Well, you see, Ah thought it had been too long since Ah visited mah only son, and who doesn't love a surprise," Maude said in her usual flaunting way.

"Uh, yes, Ah suppose so," Ezra said, a stricken look coming over his face.

Looking up, Ezra mentally groaned when he saw Clemmie come running down the street along with Roy and Alex.

"School let out early, Clemmie?" Ezra said.

"Yes suh," Clemmie said, looking at Maude in a distrustful way. "Who's she?" She asked, disdain clear in her voice.

Maude made a sound that can only be described as a huffy breath. "Someone should have taught that child some manners." She said the same disdain in her voice. Witnesses could easily see the great resemblance in grandmother and granddaughter.

"And someone should have taught you not to make out with younger men," Clementine said just as disdainfully. It was evident that she'd seen Maude embracing and kissing Ezra, and felt protective of him.

"Clementine." Ezra stopped her from saying more while Maude huffed angrily.

"Ezra, tell this disrespectful brat who Ah am." She ordered.

"Um," Ezra said looking to his friends for help. They just shook their heads; Ezra was on his own. "Well, uh, Clemmie this is my mothah, Maude Standish."

Clemmie's mouth dropped open. "You mean, _she's_ my grandmother?"

"Of course not! Ah am nobody's grandmothah." Maude stated angrily, even though the child's answer threw her for a loop.

"Actually, Mothah, as it turns out, Clementine here is mah daughter." Ezra pulled Clemmie in front of him and put his hands on her shoulders.

Maude's face took on a stricken look. "No. It's impossible. It can't be! It's not true."

"It is true, Mothah." Ezra figured that with the reception Clementine was getting the least he could do was stand by her.

"No. How could you do this to me?" She nearly screamed at Ezra. "Ah'm too young to have grandchildren! This is all your fault!" She spit out the word 'grandchildren' as though it was poison.

She staggered backwards, suddenly faint, and Mary hurried to grab her arm. "Come. Sit down."

Maude followed Mary to a chair on the porch of the station as though in another world.

Ezra and Vin shared a cautious look, then Ezra wiped his brow and followed Maude. Clementine stayed with Roy while Alex sought the comfort of her own father who stood by.

Maude was staring without seeing anything while mumbling a frightful jumble of sentences. One of the repeating sentences went on about how she was way too young to have grandchildren.

"It's rather a long story, but Anastasia was with child when we drifted apart... and I never learned until mah daughter was sent to me for protection from a party that has been dealt with." Ezra tried to explain.

Maude's gaze fluttered to Roy. "And Ah suppose the next thing you're gonna tell me is that he's your son?" Before Ezra could disarm her of that assumption, she turned to Adam. "And he must be your brother who Ah never knew about."

"No, ma'am." Adam stepped forward to shake her hand, a disarming smile on his face. "I'm Adam Cartwright from Virginia City, Nevada. My family and I are just passing through. This is one of my brothers, Jamie; my daughter, Alexandra, and my father, Ben." He introduced his present family members.

Maude ignored Jamie and Alex but shook Ben's hand. "Forgive me for the condition you find me to be in. Ah have just received the most shocking news." She momentarily glared at Ezra.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Standish. I have heard quite a lot about you from your son's friends." It was true, Ben did know a lot about the elder Standish. "Your granddaughter is a charming child."

"Ah'm sure." Maude's face and voice told the exact opposite, but Ezra did have to give her credit for pulling herself together like that. He mused whether or not she'd heard of the wealthy Cartwrights. If she had, he expected her to pull some kind of a swindle on them once she regained her bearings.

Maude was pale and looked as though she was going to slip into unconsciousness at any moment, so Ezra stepped up.

"Perhaps you ought to rest, Mothah," Ezra said, helping her up. He and Mary escorted her down the street to the boarding house, leaving some flabbergasted people in their wake.

"Whew." Said Adam. "I thought you were exaggerating about her, but I see now that you definitely were not!"

"I coulda told you that, but I suppose you have to see it to believe it!" Buck said. "Come on. I'll buy you all a beer."

The men left for the saloon, leaving the fuming kids to their scheming.

"How dare she talk to Daddy like that." Clementine fumed, glaring daggers at the woman's retreating back.

"And to you! Who does she think she is anyway? She doesn't even know you yet, and she's already made you an enemy!" Alex supported her friend.

Roy and Jamie personally felt the same, but, not wanting to throw kerosene on the fire, they kept quiet.

"Don't you agree?" Clementine turned to the boys, her eyes dark.

"Well, I do agree that she was very disrespectful to you and your Pa, and she's nothing like him, but this is still something I think the adults should handle," Roy said maturely.

Clementine huffed. "You and Jamie _are_ practically adults, and anyway, they won't do anything about her, you know that."

"Yes, I do know that they won't exactly do anything to her to stop her from saying that, but I don't think your Pa will let her be mean to you," Jamie answered. "Do you know the reason why they won't do anything?"

Clementine furrowed her brow thoughtfully. "'Cause she's Daddy's mothah?"

"And your grandmother; exactly." Roy broke in. "And that's a good enough reason for you to leave her alone as well."

"You sound so grown-up," Clementine said spitefully. She was angry and she felt the need to do something negative to the woman.

"Yeah. Isn't there any life left in the two of you? You would normally help me in a situation like this. It's a practically a matter of life and death." Alex said to Jamie.

"Yeah. You heard what she said to Daddy and me, didn't you? Are you just going to let her get away with it?" Clementine demanded. For such a young kid she sure could be intimidating when she wanted to.

"Yes, we heard, but we're not going to do anything and don't you try anything either," Roy warned.

Clementine growled. Turning on her heel, she and Alex marched down the street in the direction of the livery where the two of them often played.

"Let's get outta here," Jamie said.

"I kinda feel like I should stick close to her to make sure she doesn't do anything." Roy hedged.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I sure don't want to be around when feathers start flying," Jamie stated and started down the street a couple steps before turning around to wait on Roy.

Roy watched the girls disappear into the barn, then turned to uneasily follow Jamie. "I have a feeling I'ma gonna regret this... Where are we going?"

* * *

Like always, thanks for reading and I'd love to know what y'all think!

 **TBC**


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